Remember Me
by Sakurapi
Summary: Aiko has no recollection of her past. All she knows is that she goes by the name of Curly and is in the Freedom Fighters. When she leaves the group she encounters Prince Zuko, who unknowingly unravels the pieces of her past and who she once was. Zuko x OC.
1. Chapter 1: Curly, The Freedom Fighter

**Disclaimer:** I do not, I definitely do not, own Avatar: The Last Airbender or its characters.

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Pale, slender fingers had slipped through the lush and curly mane on top of her head as her eyes were half-opened, staring at the blankets that had covered her legs. A light sheet of sweat glistened on her forehead as her heavy breathing had begun to become steady and regular. With a sigh, she had fallen back down on the futon and closed her eyes, her hands now at her side as she had tried to calm herself down now that she realized that it was all just a dream and nothing more. There was no need to panic, it was over. She had rolled over to her side and began to clutch her pillow, nuzzling her face in it as she had tried to force herself back to sleep. It wasn't working though; she was now fully awake and annoyed.

"I hate nightmares…" She had mumbled under her breath as she had heard the door to her room open, she had opened one eye and saw a face she didn't think she would be seeing until later in the day. "Rise and shine, huh?" She had asked, the male nodding his head with his trademark grin on his face. "Do I really have to get up?" Another question had left her lips and she was given another nod.

"You're on patrol duty today, Curly. You can't just lie around." He had said as he placed the blade of wheat grass in between his teeth as usual. "So get up and at it, I'm sure Smellerbee could use the help." He had then turned around and walked out, leaving Curly in her bed and letting out a sigh. She had kicked the covers off her form, exposing her bare legs to the air, shivering a bit as she had missed the warmth of the blankets. And so the black-haired girl climbed out of the bed, stretching her arms over her head as she had let out a long yawn.

Her arms had then fallen to her sides, her right hand scratching the back of her head as she had closed her eyes and thought about her duties today. Today, it was her turn to patrol the area to make sure no Fire Nation soldiers were roaming about. She would deal with them however the situation called it, which usually meant fighting them but she didn't mind. Curly had always loved to fight. She wasn't necessarily should why she had liked a good fight now and then, maybe because she liked knocking those Fire Nations soldiers around and giving them a taste of her own medicine.

"Damn…" She had muttered, "Might as well get ready." She had said as she had walked over to her makeshift closest and pulled out her clothes, adjusting her bandages to make sure they were fresh and tight, and that no accidents were bound to happen. Her black Capri tights were still in mint condition even though she knew that it wasn't wise to sleep in them. Curly had placed on her black long sleeve shirt and then her red vest before tying her hair in a ponytail with her usual fringe, her red sword belt was placed on next and she had inserted her katana sword in it. She had then put on her red boots and walked towards the door.

Her bed was still a mess but she didn't care, it wasn't like anyone else was going to be bothered by it if she wasn't. She had left her tree home and walked along the walk away, seeing the other use vines to take the fast way down. "Mornin' Curly!" One of the fighters had waved as they had went down the vine, she had waved back with a smile. Her golden eyes had looked around the place and then she had found the mossy tree, a playful grin adorning her face.

"Curly, shall we skate down the branches to the ground?" Curly had asked herself as if she was someone else, her hands on her hips. She had then folded her arms and tilted her head to the side. "I don't know… Jet always said it was pretty dangerous even though he used to do it with me and I get a feelin' that he still does~" She had cooed in reply, now looking at her nails nonchalantly. "You could always use the vine like everyone else though." Curly had pretended to be someone else again. "But I like to be a rebel sometimes, to now follow everyone else." Now finally getting serious she had rolled her shoulders and looked at the moss-covered branch. "Gonna go with sliding!" Curly had ran forward and jumped on the branch, sliding down like it was a skateboard.

When she had finally neared the ground, she had jumped down and then went to the meeting area for patrollers and made sure she had played it off like she hadn't used the moss tree. When she arrived, she had caught up with the others. "You're finally here. Some of the others said they had seen you a few minutes ago." Smellerbee had said, rubbing her nostrils with the back of her index finger as she had her other hand on her waist.

"Sorry, Jet actually had to wake me up this morning." Curly had said truthfully, "For the past couple of days I've been so tired in the morning." She had said as she had folded her arms under her bust, her eyes looking down on the ground.

Smellerbee had tilted her head, "You have been a little off…" The girl had said, now noticing that Curly had been more tired than usual but had pushed it aside before, thinking nothing of it. "If you're sick or something, I dunno, maybe you should go back home?"

Curly had looked back at her and shook her head, "No way! I can't do that. I'm fine. Knocking some heads around is bound to lift me up." She had said with a quirky grin, forcing herself to appear her lively and usual self. Smellerbee had smirked and then shrugged her shoulders as her arms were akimbo.

"Alright, I'm just lookin' out for you. Already everyone, let's—Jet?" Everyone had looked right to see the Freedom Fighter leader walking towards them.

He had grabbed the blade of wheat grass in between his index finger and thumb, leaving it inches away from his mouth. "I was thinking about going with you guys today. It seems that we're really good as far as food is concerned."

Curly had then walked over to Jet, elbowing his side playfully as the right corner of her mouth had lifted up in a playful smirk. "Nah, you just want to go fight some Fire Nation soldiers. You're hoppin' out of your responsibilities."

Jet had chuckled, caught. "You're right. But I'm really serious on food though." He had said, "But Curly has the right idea why I'm here."

"I don't see nothing wrong with you joining us." The Duke had said with a smile. "It'll be fun seeing Jet in action!"

"I know, right?" Pipsqueak had added in, throwing his fist into the air. "We always work better and even harder when Jet is around."

"Hey!" Curly had said, her hands on her hips. "I worked hard and good when Jet isn't around, that's not for everyone!" She had said, sticking her tongue out at Pipsqueak.

The group had laughed at Curly's childish antics, and she had joined in the laugh as well. "No time for playin' around though. Let's get going." Jet had said as everyone had followed him.

"I hope today isn't a bore." Smellerbee had added as they had searched around on foot while a few others were in the trees.

Curly had agreed, nodding her head. "Same." She had sighed, "I hope these soldiers pack more of a punch, so it'll be extra painful and beat them to a pulp!" She had smacked her fist into her open palm, a dream gaze over her golden eyes she had thought about it.

"Sounds like you're pretty hyped up than how you were this morning." Jet had said as Curly had glanced over to him.

"Of course! I was lying in bed after all. I'm up, walking, and talking. That makes the difference!" She had said confidently as they had walked.

The Duke was the first to pick up some noise. "Everyone shhh!" He had said in which everyone had immediately hid behind a tree before climbing up them, getting as high from the ground but not too far that they couldn't see.

They had jumped a few branches until they had seen Fire Nation soldiers chasing a group of two teenagers and a kid. Curly had narrowed her eyes, looking at Jet as he was preparing a cue for when they would jump in. Her hand had wrapped around the handle of her sword, ready to fight.

"Sokka, your shirt!" The young, bald boy had yelled to his friend, whose sleeve was a flame.

The boy in the blue tunic had panicked, looking at his arm frantically and too busy panicking to actually attempt to pull out the flame. It was the girl in the blue tunic had who had bended a small, flow ribbon of water and splashed the fire out before redirecting it back in what appeared to be a water skin.

Maybe they could handle themselves. Is that why Jet was taking his time? Surrounded now, the trio had pressed their backs together as they had faced the soldiers, preparing themselves in fighting stances. "If you let us pass, we promise not to hurt you." The boy in the blue tunic had said.

Curly had let out a muffled snort, admiring the cockiness that seemed to radiate from him. The girl didn't seem to like what he said and whispered a retort. Her golden eyes then traveled to the one-eyed soldier, seemingly the Captain of the soldiers. "You? Promise not to hurt us?" Of course he would sound so arrogant.

Suddenly, she had noticed that Jet was gone and was now at a lower tree, standing on the large branch of it. Curly had rose a brow at Jet's rather outlandish entry. "Look!" The waterbending girl had said as she had pointed to Jet.

"I guess that's our cue." Curly had mumbled as she and the others had jumped down right when Jet began to attack, one of the soldiers. Curly had dashed right, unsheathing her sword and lunging the blade at one of them who had blocked her sword with one of his own. She had jumped back and brought the sword over her head, using her strength to overpower him as she had lowered himself to the ground.

Her right foot had come up and slammed right into his face, knocking him out instantaneously.

Her sheath was what she used next, using it to knock some of the soldiers heads and even their lungs to knock some air out of them. It didn't take long before the battle was over and all the soldiers were gone with their tails between their legs. Curly had looked around the camp in triumph before turning her attention to the bald boy who had spoken. "You just took out a whole army almost single-handed!" He was obviously awed by Jet's skills.

"Hey, he didn't do it all by himself." Curly had said, jealous that her skills where downplayed.

The bald boy had then laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. "You too, I know."

"Army?" Her eyes then turned to the boy in the blue tunic, "Pfft. There were only, like, twenty guys."

Arching a brow, Curly had walked over toward him with her sword sheathed in the sword belt and her hands on her hips as she had leaned closer to the blue-eyed boy, who blushed out of surprise out of how close she was. "You tellin' me you could handle them all by yourself, _big guy_?" She had then let out a snort, "'Cause it seem so from what we could see, buddy ole pal!"

Sokka had looked away from her, frustrated and embrassed as there were snickers around them from everyone else. Curly had then turned her back to him and stood a few inches away from Jet. "My name is Jet, and these are my Freedom Fighters. Curly—" He had pointed to the golden-eyed girl, who gave a swift salute. "Sneers—" He had then motioned to the large by who didn't have any sort of weapon and was eating out of a bowl that one of the soldier's was eating out of. "—Longshot." The boy with the bow and arrows was then pointed to; he had worn a paddy-hat, which he raised at the sound of his name."—Smellerbee." Smellerbee, who adorned war facepaint and a knife between her teeth, a slung a Fire Nation sword across her back with another in her other hand. She had brandished them when Jet mentioned her name. "—The Duke and Pipsqueak." Both boys were together, The Duke riding on Pipsqueak's shoulder and raised his quarter staff slight at his name while Pipsqueak had put his log away upon his name being said.

Curly had turned her attention to the Avatar, who had approached the two of them. "Pipsqueak—That's a funny name." He said while chuckling as Curly and Jet looked at each other, wondering Pipsqueak's reaction his time around.

"You think my name is funny?" said Pipsqueak as he had slightly glowered, bending down as his face was just a mere few inches away from the bald boy's.

The boy looked a bit nervous, a smile plastered on his face however. "It's hilarious."

In a matter of seconds, Pipsqueak's tough demeanor had shattered into the big, cuddly bear that Curly knew he was as all three boys had shared a laugh together, Pipsqueak going as far as to attempt to "lightly" slap the bald boy's back even though there was too much force behind it which unintentionally knocked the boy flat on his face. The Duke had stopped laughing, but smiled again when Aang had looked up and gave a weak chortle.

Curly had then walked over to them her hands reaching out for The Duke, "I haven't seen you in the past two days!" She had said as the boy had jumped off of Pipsqueak's shoulders and down to the girl's arms to be caught in a warm and tight embrace.

"Me and Pip were busy." He had said as he had pretended to not enough her hug to keep his tough guy act even though he had enjoyed how warm and affection her hugs tended to be. "C'mon Curly, you're squeezing me to death." He had said in a strangled voice. "Also, not in front of the guys." He had whispered as she had smiled.

The Duke was what Curly considered her baby brother and she had enjoyed treating him as such, she knew that he had liked it too because he had reminded her of the older sister that he had lost before. "Sorry, I just can't help myself." She had said as she had placed him down on his feet and then looked over to Jet.

"Alright Freedom Fighters, raid the camp and find what we need." He had ordered as everyone had gone to work. Longshot had checked weapons, Sneers investigating the supply crates. Curly had gone inside the tents to see if she could find anything useful.

She had walked over to what was a desk and seen there were a lot of scrolls. She had picked up one and read the contents of it, and appeared to be from what was an order from Commander Zhao. Commander Zhao must've been some big time guy, or at least an important figure in the Fire Nation army. Curly had liked to check up on these like this, just so she would know if she was daling with someone topnotch. "Look out for exiled Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation. The Avatar and his group have fled on a flying bison towards the Earth Kingdom. I imagine that they haven't gone too far but Prince Zuko will follow. Keep watch and report anything suspicious back to me. Commander Zhao."

Curly had arched a brow, her eyes following the name of the Fire Nation prince. "Prince Zuko…" The girl had whispered his name as she had tried to think of why she felt like there was something more that she should know about the Prince. "Why…Why do I feel like I know him? I mean, I know who he is kinda but…" She had continued to talk to herself, trying to figure out why she had felt so strange suddenly. "Maybe I'm just still tired."

"Curly!" The girl had jumped as she had turned to see Jet, "What are you doing in here? Find something useful?"

Curly had shook her head, "No. I didn't." Curly had said as she had lowered her gaze, "Nothing but typical Fire Nation history stuff, ya know." She had shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly.

"Really? I'll be sure to burn these tents down." He had said as he had crossed his arm, chewing the blade of wheat grass. Curly had threw the letter back on the table quickly behind her, pretending she wasn't doing anything questionable.

"Yeah, haha, burn it down." With a nod, she had looked at Jet with a smile. "Anyway, are we taking those three to the hideout?"

Jet had gave his trademark self-assured smile, "Of course."

"It's not because you're checking out the waterbending girl, are you?" Curly had outright asked him, tilting her head to the side as she had folded her arms under her bust.

The boy merely chuckled. "So what if I am? Jealous?" He had teased her in which the girl beside him had rolled her eyes.

"Why would I be jealous? I hope she can deal with your big-headness." She had said, "She's got her hands full."

And with that, Curly had walked out of the tent leaving Jet with a frown on his face. "What does she mean by that?" He had questioned before following behind her.

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What do you think of the first chapter? I kept it short because I want to see if it would do well.

Leave a review please!


	2. Chapter 2: Jet's Plan

**Disclaimer:** I do not, I definitely do not, own Avatar: The Last Airbender or its characters.

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Her hands were grasped together behind her back, a little bounce in her step as she had walked forward. Her golden eyes had stayed glued to the forest floor as they were taking the trio that they had saved towards their hideout. Her eyes would occasionally looked at the flying bison, Appa as she had heard Aang call him, as he was in a wagon that Pipsqueak had pulled. She had realized just a few minutes ago, that Aang was the Avatar but she hadn't said anything about it. She wanted to see if the boy would tell them himself or when she was alone with Jet.

When they had reached the bottom of the hideout, Jet had stopped walking. "We're here." He reported to them, Sokka looking around.

"Where…? There's nothing here!" He had said as everyone watched Jet hand him a rope with a loop on the end. "Why… what's this do?" He questioned. Curly snickered as the loop had entangled itself around the boy's wrist and without warning, he was pulled arm up into the trees. He momentarily got stuck on one of the leaf covered branches before fully disappearing from their sight. "Woah!"

Curly had adjusted her right foot in the loop, her golden eyes focusing on the rope to make sure that she didn't end in the same predicament. Her attention then turned to Jet as he had offered his free hand towards the waterbender, Katara. Her eyebrow rose questioningly. "Grab hold of me Katara." He had spoken and there something suave-like in the tone of his voice.

Her lips had parted to reveal her surprise as Katara had taken the boy's hand and he had pulled her into a spin, Katara pressed up to his chest as the rope slowly pulled them into the air. Curly had shaken her head, knowing that Jet had indeed taken interest in the waterbender. She wasn't sure why it bothered her though.

It was necessarily her exactly but Jet.

Not paying much attention to it, she had pressed the rope and then easily glided up into the air, smiling as she had enjoyed the way the force of the wind had pressed against her skin and hair. Now through the whole of the bottom staircase, Curly had jumped down on it. "Nice place you got!" Aang's voice had caught their attention.

Curly had looked over to Sokka, who was still caught on a branch. "Need help?" She had asked, offering her hand to him.

"No thank, I can get myself out of this." He had replied as he continued to fight his way off the branch. Curly knew that he wasn't going to willingly except her help and so she grabbed his wrists and pulled him down and made sure he had landed on his feet. "I said I could get myself out."

"It didn't look like it." She had said as the boy in front of her had blushed as she had continued to hold his wrist before eventually letting them go.

"It's beautiful up here!" Katara exclaimed.

"It's beautiful…and more importantly, the Fire Nation can't find us." Jet added as Smellerbee released her rope and landed near Jet and Katara.

The short girl had smirked, "They would love to find you. Wouldn't they, Jet?" She had said.

"It's not gonna happen, Smellerbee." Jet had confidently said.

Katara had then inquired, "Why does the Fire Nation want to find you?" They walked along the bridge as Curly stood beside Sokka, looking at Jet, who was leading the group with Katara alongside him.

"I guess you could say I've been causing them a little trouble. See, they took over a nearby Earth Kingdom town a few years back. " He explained.

Pipsqueak then joined the conversation. "We've been ambushin' their troops, cutting off their supply lines, and doing anything we can to mess with 'em."

Curly had turned her attention to Sokka beside her, who was trying his best to see over Pipsqueak—trying to hop and look over the tall boy's shoulder. Curly had nudged his side, gaining his attention as she had patted Pipsqueak's shoulder, motioning for them to be in front of him, in which he allowed. "One day, we'll drive the Fire Nation out of there and free that town."

"That's so brave." Katara had said dreamily.

"Yeah, nothing's braver than a guy in a treehouse." Sokka scoffed, sarcastic as ever. Curly had glared at the boy from the corner of her eyes, even going as far as punching his shoulder. "Ow!"

"Say somethin' about my home again and you'll be kicked out of the treehouse. How about that?" She had said as he had rubbed his shoulder, his brows furrowed together. A slight pout on his face as the corner of his mouth had dipped downward.

His sister then spoke up, "Don't pay any attention to my brother. "

"No problem. He probably had a rough day." Curly was surprised by Jet's dismissive behavior to Sokka's rude comment, but she figured it was because he was too busy trying to impress the boy's sister.

Curly had looked back at Sokka, who was sinking back behind them. She had looked at the others and then sighed, not sure why she felt bad for the guy anyway. And so she had walked over towards Sokka, "What's your deal?"

Sokka had looked at her and then back over to Jet and his sister. "I just keep messing up." Curly had rose a brow, questioning what he meant. "I'm the reason why we were in that predicament with those Fire Nation soldiers. Now my sister and Aang don't trust me with leadership, they are too busy fawning over your leader, Jet."

"So you're jealous is what you're basically saying?" It was true, she was blunt and out with it which didn't really easy Sokka, who felt a sting by her question.

He wanted to dismiss, to say that it wasn't true but it was obvious. "Whatever." He mumbled as he had leaned on the pathway's rail.

"All leaders mess up." She had tried to easy his wounded pride. "Jet isn't perfect." Sokka's eyes had focused on the girl beside him, her back leaning on the rail as her arms were crossed under her bust. "I remember when we found The Duke," She had said with a small smile on her face as she had remembered, "and we thought he was some Fire Nation thief because he had put on Fire Nation clothes and was trying to steal our food. I knew he wasn't a man, well a grown man. His stature already proved it and his clothes were baggy. Yet Jet insisted we tackle the kid and that we were just being too "soft" because we wanted to believe it was a kid."

"You tackled him?" Sokka had asked as Curly nodded her head.

"Poor kid was crying, we almost crushed him and Jet felt terrible about it. That's just one of the many mistakes. Like I said, he's not perfect." She had shrugged her shoulders. "You have to mess up in order to make sure you don't make the same mistakes. It helps you grow as a person, as a friend, and as a leader."

He had looked away from her and then back at the leaves from the trees that had covered the sight of the forest floor. "It's just I think I messed up big time with them."

"Do you live to impress people?" Curly had asked him. "No one is perfect, Sokka. And I'm pretty sure your sister and Aang know that too." The look on his face had a mixture of different emotions from what Curly had observed. "Well," she had stood straight as he had glanced over at her, "I'm going to take a nap."

She didn't say another word as she had walked away, heading towards her treehouse. When she had reached it, she had walked in and instantly flopped onto the bed, feeling the heavy, tiring feeling float back on her.

The black-haired girl had kicked her boots off her feet, letting them fly any direction they had wanted as she had curled atop of her bed and laid there for a few minutes, yawning softly. Her eyes had fallen closed halfway as she had stared out into space. "What a day…" She mumbled.

Curly's eyes had then completely closed.

Everything was now dark.

Her mind then floated off into the dream world but she was plagued with that nostalgic feeling that she didn't quite understand. Now the image was clear instead of always blurred, there was a bridge; a red bridge. It was the color of a bright crimson as she had her legs through the slender rails, but she noted that her legs were short as if she was a child.

There was a lake beneath the bridge and she could barely make out her reflection. Another thing had felt strange too. Her right hand had slowly gone towards her face but a droplet had fallen on her thigh. It was a tear. She was crying.

_"Hey,"_ a voice had called out to her and she had slowly turned to see them. _"Why are you—"_

And like that, Curly had been forced out of her sleep as she had heard the sound of someone knocking on her door. She had stood and walked towards the door drowsily and opened it to see it was Jet. "So, this is where you been? Took a nap?" He had asked as he had waltzed in, the girl sighing and then shutting the door.

"What's the deal Jet? Why are you here?" Curly had asked as she had let out a yawn and stretched her arms in front of her before letting them fall back to her side. "Shouldn't you be spending time with Katara?" She had questioned playfully.

"I just left her." He had said as he had looked around before turning to face her, his arms crossed. "Don't tell me you're green with envy."

"Green with nausea is more like it. I could care less who you date; I just don't want you to break her heart." Her reply was haughty, folding her arms and averting her gaze.

The leader just smirked and then shrugged, "Sure."

"You think every girl wants you, don't you?" Curly had asked him, "That's not the case all the time, Jet."

He nodded, his smirk still plastered on his face. "I get it, I get it."

"Now why are you here?" She decided to change the topic since the previous one wasn't getting anywhere.

"I just wanted to check on you since Smellerbee told me your hypersomina has been coming back." Curly was surprised to hear that he was worried but then tried not to be too surprise. "It's been two years since and now it's back."

The girl had looked down at her feet and sighed, "It's because those dreams keep coming back, and what's worse is I don't remember any of them." She had said as she had curled her hands into fists. "It just… It just pisses me off that I can't seem to remember them at all when I wake up."

"You think they are memories of your past?" He had asked her as she had uncurled her fingers from fists and nodded her head, answering his question. "You can't force them back."

"I know that," She had said, "…it's just frustrating." Her voice had lowered to a bare whisper.

Jet had knitted his brows together as a frown was on his face. He had walked towards her, placing his hands on her shoulders. "I say you're lucky, I don't want to remember what happened to my parents."

Curly had looked up at him and glowered, "You don't understand Jet! Okay, I get it that you don't want to remember the day you lost them but at least you can remember what your mother and father. I can't remember anything!"

Jet had remained silent for a few minutes as she had slipped his hands off her shoulders. "Curly…"

"Don't worry about it." She had forced the corner of her lips to rise in a small smile. "Is dinner almost done yet?" She had asked.

"I just wanted to check on you since Smellerbee told me your hypersomina has been coming back." Curly was surprised to hear that he was worried but then tried not to be too surprised. "It's been two years since and now its back."

"You think they are memories of your past?" He had asked her as she had uncurled her fingers from fists and nodded her head, answering his question. "You can't force them back."

"I know that," She had said, "…it's just frustrating." Her voice had lowered to a bare whisper. "Sometimes I feel like I'll never remember who I was before and that makes me so angry and sad at the same time. Everyone has memories… but me!"

Jet had knitted his brows together as a frown was on his face. He had walked towards her, placing his hands on her shoulders. "I say you're lucky, I don't want to remember what happened to my parents."

Curly had looked up at him and glowered, "You don't understand Jet! Okay, I get it that you don't want to remember the day you lost them but at least you can remember what your mother and father looked like. You can remember the happy times before, but I can't remember anything! My parents are faceless people… No voice, no face."

Jet had remained silent for a few minutes as she had slipped his hands off her shoulders. "Curly…"

"Don't worry about it." She had forced the corner of her lips to rise in a small smile. "Is dinner almost done yet?" She had asked.

Jet didn't want to change the subject but she was giving him no other option. He had sighed and nodded, "Yeah, we're holding a feast kinda." He had said as she had gave a slow, firm nod.

"Good, I'm starving." She had turned around.

"You know, I'm not going to let this go." He had finally said as she had looked over her shoulder as he had walked towards the door. "You can't bottle things in forever." He had opened the door and left, leaving Curly standing in the middle of her tree house.

After a few minutes of regretting for letting out more than what she wanted, she had walked towards the door and opened it to see Sokka standing there. "Hey you." She had said with a half-smile.

"Was I interrupting something? He seemed a bit tense." Sokka had said, rubbing the back of his head. Curly had shaken her head, "Good…"

"Anyway, what are you doing here? It's time to eat." Curly had said as she had slipped past him, closing the door behind her. He had appeared surprised.

"So that's why it's all lit up?" He questioned as he had followed behind her.

Curly had nodded, "Yup." She answered as she then looked over her shoulder at him, "Nobody told you?"

"Uh…" He dragged, "no."

The girl sighed and shook her head, "No matter. Let's go."

Sokka didn't say another word as he followed behind Curly, leading her towards banquet table where she had seen some of the Freedom Fighters placing plates of food down. "Oh, there you are!" Her attention shifted to The Duke. "I almost thought you weren't going to eat with us."

"Why wouldn't I do that?" Curly had asked, placing her right hand on her waist. "Why would I miss an opportunity to eat?"

"Well, because…" He had frowned and his frown had caused her to do the same. "Your hyper…thing is back."

She figured Smellerbee must've told him. And so, she bent her knees so she was more at eye-level with him. "I'm fine, The Duke. I'm not tired at all right now, but I know I will be after I stuff my face." She had said as she had leaned forward, her forehead pressed against his helmet. "Don't worry about me, alright?"

"Why would you tell me not to worry? I always—" She didn't allow him to continue.

"I can take care of myself." Curly had nodded, "I'll feel better again."

Sokka had watched the two, questioning what was it that The Duke was worried about when it concerned Curly. Hyper what? He couldn't begin to think of what he meant. She hardly seemed hyper at all. She was level-headed and an albeit feisty when offended but not hyper.

Curly had walked towards the table Sokka with her. She had began putting food on her plate, and Sokka watched with amazement how there hadn't been a spot left on her plate since it was full of food. "Shouldn't you be eating less? You know, like, how a girl eats?" He questioned as he fixed his plate and they had went to sit on the platforms.

The girl beside him arched a brow, "I don't eat like a girl. I eat like a person that's starving!" She bitten into the fried dough in her hands, chewing happily as her eyes were lit up from great the food was. "This is soooooo good." She said with her mouthful, Sokka watching her with surprise as she continued to stuff her face.

In her other hand was a leg from the roast duck, which she bit into after she had swallowed down the fried dough. Sokka watched as the skin of the duck leg hung from her lips. He had never seen a girl eat so barbarically before he didn't know if he should commend her for not having a bird stomach or be afraid.

Curly had looked at him with her mouthful, wondering why he was staring at her. She had swallowed down the large portion of food she hated and then stuffed a pau bun his mouth. "Eat! Don't just look it. you better eat before it's all gone. Pipsqueak eats like a tornado!"

The watertribe boy was surprised as she had stuffed the bun in his mouth, choking on it slightly before he began to chew it and then his blue eyes had lit up when the contents inside of it had graced his tastebuds. "Oh…Oh this is good." He had said with a mouthful as she had nodded her head.

"Isn't it?!" She had said happily as both of them began to stuff their face simultaneously, laughing at how full each other's cheeks were. They had then took their wooden cups, raising them in the air and clinging them together before chugging down their drinks. Curly had released a loud burp, embarrassed slightly as everyone at the table laughed.

Sokka had held his hand up to signal for everyone to wait for his and he had ripped out a loud one. "Nice one Sokka!" Aang had said.

"Watch this!" Pipsqueak said.

"Uh oh, EVERYONE TAKE COVER!" Curly screamed as mainly all the Freedom Fighters in the area had ducked down and underneath the table. Sokka and Aang both sat up, unsure why everyone had hid. When Pipsqueak had let out his long and strong burp, both boys had flown away from the platform from the burp's sheer force. Curly and the others had laughed as they had looked a mess, their clothes array as they had landed in some bushes. "Told you!"

Jet had then stood and climbed the table, everyone turning their attention towards him. "Today, we struck another blow against the Fire Nation swine." He had declared confidently, all the Freedom Fighters cheering. Katara and Aang had watched with smiles on their faces while Sokka, well, he didn't seem to be feeling the spirit. "I got a special joy from the look on one soldier's face, when The Duke dropped down on his helmet and rode him like a wild hog monkey."

The Duke, who had removed his helmet some time ago, and was sitting on the platform between Longshot and Smellerbee, had stood and joined the tabled with Jet. He had did a victory walk around the fish platter, the Freedom Fighters cheering as Curly had laughed and clapped happily.

"Now, the Fire Nation thinks they don't have to worry about a couple of kids hiding in the trees." Jet had shrugged casually, preparing to take a drink out of his wooden cup. "Maybe they're right." The group had boo'd. "Or maybe… they are dead wrong." He had leaned forward so that the nearest lantern had lit up his face a bright, angry red.

The Freedom Fighters had cheered wildly as he left the table and walked towards Katara, who was sitting beside her brother and Curly on the platform. Jet had casually sat between siblings, leaving Curly to watch Sokka's expression. "Hey Jet, nice speech." Katara had said.

"Thanks. By the way, I was really impressed with you and Aang. That was some great bending I saw out there today." Curly had nibbled away at her food, listening to the conversation.

"Well, he's great. He's the Avatar. I could use some more training." Her gaze slightly averted, an obvious blush on her face.

Curly noticed there was something strange in Jet's voice. She had furrowed her brows a bit, "Avatar huh? Very nice."

"Thanks Jet." Aang had thanked the rebel leader.

"So I might know a way that you and Aang can help in our struggle." Jet had offered.

Sokka, however, interrupted. "Unfortunately we have to leave tonight." He placed his empty plate down, standing and walking away. Curly had watched, wondering why he was behaving like that.

"Sokka, you're kidding me! I needed you on an important mission tomorrow." Curly had looked at Jet surprised at his words. Sokka had stopped and turned, intrigued.

"What mission?"

Something just wasn't right and Curly could feel it in the bottom of her stomach. Jet was acting strange. Too strange.

**/**

The next day had came rather quickly and Curly had woken up too late to go on the mission with Jet, Sokka, Smellerbee, and Pipsqueak. She had stayed behind and decided to do laundry since she didn't have anything else better to do. She was at the large washtub, scrubbing the clothes that were soaked in hot, soapy water with a washboard. Her hair was pulled up in a sleek ponytail, no fringes since she didn't want to trouble herself and get them wet. "Sometimes I forget how tiring this can be…" She mumbled to herself.

"Need some help?" Her eyes had looked up and met Katara's as she had leaned close to Curly .

"I'm fine." She had declined her help, not wanting to trouble the girl.

Katara had persisted, "I'm a waterbender, so it'll make it easier."

She did have a point.

Curly had sighed and then nodded, "Can you take all the water out of the clothes I scrubbed then. It'll be easier than having them hang up to dry. Sometimes birds nestle themselves in them since we hang them up at the treetops." The girl had nodded happily as Curly had paid attention back to her work. "So, I see you like Jet."

Katara had dropped the water that she managed to ease out of the clothes, surprised and embarrassed. "U-Uh…" The girl had stuttered, "He's a nice guy…That's all."

Curly had looked over her shoulder Katara, "It's written all over your face." The Freedom Fighter had giggled as she continued to scrub a tunic against the washboard. "I won't tell anyone."

"Good, please don't tell my brother. I'm not sure he would like it." She had sighed as she waited for the next stack of clothes to be piled up so that she could take the water out of them.

"Yeah, your brother doesn't seem to like Jet." Katara had looked at Curly as she had spoken. "It'll probably take him a while before he warms up to him, depending on how long you guys stay with us."

Katara had nodded her head, silently hoping that it was true. "But you and Jet, you two are pretty close. He says you're like a little sister to him."

Curly had eyes had widened, freezing from doing her chore as she had stared at her reflection in the soapy water. "Like a little sister? Is that what he says these days?" She had muttered.

"What was that?" Katara had questioned as she wasn't able to hear what Curly had said.

"I said, yeah. We…We're pretty close." She had continued to scrub the pants bawled up in her hands. "Jet found me before I was forced into prostitution." She had said as the waterbender eyes widened, a gasped escaping her. "A lot of the Fire Nation soldier likes to take young girls and sell them to be servants or prostitutes, especially brothels. I don't know if it under Fire Lord Ozai's law or most of the soldiers are just plain cruel."

Katara's frown never left, "I'm sorry if you don't wanna talk about this then—"

"No, it's fine." Curly had shaken her head, "The memories before they found me, I don't remember. I don't remember my family, my home or anything. But I do remember running away from those soldiers when I heard them plotting in putting me in prostitution since I was out in the street in some nearby village. I ran into Jet, he didn't have his hook swords then. He just had his smarts."

"What did he do?" asked Katara.

Curly had stopped scrubbing the pants against the washboard, "He killed them." She had put it simply, "With their own swords. It was the only way we could escape alive, together. He taught me to fight for my life. He was just ten, and I was only nine… He took me in and I met Smellerbee and Longshot, the group was not even as large as it is now."

"You guys really are like a family." Katara had said softly, her eyes staring down at the forest floor.

The black-haired girl merely nodded, "I owe Jet my life." Silence had filled the area, Curly continued to scrub more clothes against the washboard. Katara continued to dry all the clothes she had folded and stack until they were completely done and Curly picked up the large laundry sack. "Thanks for helping me." Curly had thanked Katara.

"It was no problem! I'm just glad to have helped." The waterbender smiled as they had walked back to the treehouses.

Night had fallen and Curly was sitting in her room, using a candle to read the scroll in her hands. It was something she had stolen a long time ago from a bunch of Fire Nation soldiers. It was a document about the Fire Nation, which she assumed were supposed to be given to Earth Kingdom schools in the colonies. "Prince Zuko." She had muttered his name, pointing her finger at the name as she had stared at it. She couldn't understand the wistful feeling that bubbled inside her at the mere mention of his name. Was it hate? Was it her hate for the Fire Nation and she was taking it as something else? "Son of Fire Lord Ozai and Lady Ursa. Eldest child, and brother to Princess Azula."

Just hearing Azula's name made her cringe. There was a knock at her door, and she had turned her attention towards it. "Come in." She had said as she rolled up the scroll and hid it in the drawer. Sokka had came in much to her surprise.

"You have a minute?" He had asked her as she had stood up as he had closed the door behind him and walked towards her. "I have to tell you something."

"Does it have something to do about the incident earlier? The one where you said Jet had beat up an old, defenseless man?" She had asked him and he had nodded his head.

He had looked down at the floor and then back up at her. "You believe me, right?"

Curly had rubbed the back of her head, "I don't know. I want to believe you but I can't. Jet, he's… He's family, and I don't think he would do something like that. Didn't he already prove that the man had a knife with poison?"

"But I'm telling you that the man had no knife! I never saw it." Sokka argued, trying to make her see that Jet wasn't the good person that everyone thought he was. "He just saw a Fire Nation man and everything just went red to him. That man was defenseless."

She had folded her arms under her bust, averting her gaze. She couldn't fathom that Jet would do that, but she had noticed that he was delving in the deep end when it came to the Fire Nation. She could see it in his eyes, hear it in his voice, and she just dismissing it. She knew he was up to something too but she just didn't want to believe it. "I'm sorry Sokka, but you have no proof so how can I—"

"When did I ever lie?!" He then said, which had caught her off guard. "I told you that I was jealous of him, and do you know how hard it is to admit that? Especially for a guy?!" He threw his arms in the air, exasperated. "You're the only one who listens to me and acts like I exist in this place. So why would I lie to you?"

Her eyes had fallen close as she had let out a sigh. "I'm not saying I don't believe you, but I'm not saying I do. I just want to find this out myself. So Sokka, we're going to spy on Jet."

"Spy on Jet?" He had questioned.

"I have a feeling that he's been up to something, and finding that blasting jelly doesn't set me at ease. So we're going to spy on him and see if there's anything suspicious going on." Curly had explained, "It's the only way." Game for it, Sokka had nodded his head. "I'll go wake you but until then, act normal. We're gonna act like we're both going to bed."

Sokka had given her a small smile, "Thanks."

"Don't thank me yet." She had given him a smile of her own as he had left her hut. She had walked towards the candle and blew it out before lying down on her bed. She had heard what sounded like footsteps outside her hut, which made her stare at the door and wondered just who it would be.

When the footsteps were gone, she silently gotten up and walked towards the door and opened it slightly to see that the person was gone. She had made her way towards the hut Sokka, Katara, and Aang occupied and opened the door to see Sokka standing. She had then heard noises outside and looked out the door halfway, Sokka doing the same as they had seen some Freedom Fighters descending rope lines.

Curly motioned for him to follow her, and they both took a rope line down to a lower branch and then jumped on the ground stealthily. Curly's eyes had widened when she had seen the wagon being pushed as they were going out of the camp. "That's the wagon that had the blasting jelly…" She whispered. "What is he doing…?"

"We won't find out standing here." Sokka urged her forward, grabbing her wrist as they had quietly followed them into a dark valley. Both of them peered out and listened to what was being said. "Now listen—you are not to blow the dam until I give the signal. If the reservoir isn't full, the Fire Nation troos could survive."

Curly had withheld her shock, covering her mouth with her hand as her eyes had widened at his words. She had then looked to see The Duke jumping off the wagon. "But what about the people in the town—won't they get wiped out too?"

Jet had secured his hand on The Duke's shoulder, "Duke, that's the price of ridding this area of the Fire Nation." He had said it so casually and without a hint of guilt or sorrow. He remorseless, he even shifted his attention so quickly. "Now don't blow the dam until I give the signal—got it?" He ordered and Longshot gave a nod, agreeing.

There was a rustling sound and she had turned her attention to see that Sokka was caught, grabbed by his wolftail by Pipsqueak and Smellerbee had her knife at his throat. "Where do you think you're going, ponytail?" She sneered.

"Put the knife down, Smellerbee." Curly had said, standing upstraight. Both Pipsqueak and Smellerbee were surprised to see her. "Put the knife down or I'll make you put the knife down." She had threatened them.

"Are you choosing him over us?" Smellerbee had questioned her.

"I'm choosing the right thing and what I am doing is the right thing." She had said, "Now put the knife down or I'll make you." She had repeated, making sure that Smellerbee knew how serious she was.

Pipsqueak had let go of Sokka by his wolftail and Smellerbee lowered her knife. They had walked towards Jet as he stood near the edge of the cliff. "Sokka, Curly. I'm glad you both decided to join us."

"We heard your plan to destroy the Earth Kingdom town." Sokka had said to Jet.

"Our plan is to rid the valley of the Fire Nation." The Freedom Fighter leader had to tried to justify his cruel plan.

"There are people living there Jet—mothers and fathers and children." Sokka tried to reason as Curly stood there, shaking her head and disbelief as she had squeezed her eyes shut and bawled up her fists until her knuckles turned white.

"We can't win without making some sacrifices." Jet had shrugged.

The watertribe boy wasn't finished yet, he had raised a finger and pointed at Jet. "You lied to Aang and Katara about the forest fire!"

"Because they don't understand the demands of war. Not like you and I do." Jet had looked at Curly, who had her head still lowered. "You know it too, Curly."

Sokka had frowned, "I do understand. I understand that there's nothing you won't do to get what you want. Even hurting people that supposed to mean a lot to you."

"How could you do this Jet? How can you go with this plan?!" Curly had bellowed, finally speaking even though the rage building up was being released. "You hate what the Fire Nation did to you but you're going to do that to other children? You're going to take away their parents, their lives away from them?!"

The Freedom Fighter leader had knitted his brows together, "They take everything away from us and you tell me that you don't want to get rid of them?!"

"Not like this Jet, this is evil!" She had said.

Jet had grimaced, "Sometimes you have to fight evil with evil— "In but a second, the crack of skin on skin had echoed throughout the area along with gasps. In one smooth motion, Curly had brought her hand across the boy's face, slapping her roughly. His face had stayed at the side that she had thrown it with the slap, her eyes blazing with anger.

"You lost your way…" Curly had muttered, tears continuing to pour down her eyes. "You're not the same Jet. You're just driven by hatred….By vengeance."

Jet had placed his hand on his face, hissing at the sting. "No, you lost yours." Pipsqueak and Smellerbee had grabbed for Sokka, pinning him down on the ground. Jet had kept his eyes focused on Sokka, "I can't let you warn Katara and Aang." He had said and then looked up to Smellerbee and Pipsqueak, "Take him for a walk—a long walk."

"You can't do this!" Sokka yelled as the distance grew, "Curly!"

Curly had turned around to help Sokka, but Jet grabbed her wrist. "And where do you think you're going? You've betrayed me, you betrayed your family for an outsider!"

Curly had closed her eyes and shook her head, "I'll betray you over and over again if it means saving the lives of the innocent and not letting other children die or become refugees like us."

With an exhale, she had bent her arms in at the elbows so that her palms came in to face downward at face level and then down with the solar plexus. At this point, her right hand turned palm upwards in a twisting moment and then thrust out in a Penetrating Palm, going towards his throat. Jet had caught the hit by hit hitting her wrist with his and lowering her hand, but her right leg stepped out and kicked his side. Jet had fallen to the floor and she had run towards Smellerbee and Pipsqueak.

Reaching in her back pocket, she had pulled out two, circular black orbs and threw them on the ground in front of them. They were smoke bombs. She had then grabbed Sokka by the collar and jerked him backwards, dragging him until he had eventually stood and ran beside her. "We have to get to that town and warn those people." Sokka had said.

"I know," She had nodded, "we'll have to go around the forest and get there." She had said as she had looked behind her and didn't see Jet or the other two. "He probably thinks we won't make it." She had narrowed her eyes but we're going to stop him no matter what."

"I think he has a reason to let us go, it might be too late if we do that. We should hide out and then in the morning we'll take Appa and go, it'll be easier that way." He had said as Curly looked at him and then back ahead.

"You have a point…" They had eventually slowed down and caught their breaths, Curly's hands were on her knees as she panted. "Okay…" She had fell to her knees and Sokka slopped backwards on the lush grass. "We… We rest now." She had laid down on her side, closing her eyes instantly to try to catch on some rest.

**/**

When morning arrived, Curly was the first to wake up and sat up. She had seen Sokka, laying on his side sleeping and snoring as if there was no tomorrow. She had raised a brow but then chuckled before shaking his side. "C'mon, Sokka, wake up!" She had said as he had smacked his lips and sniffed a few times but still continued to sleep. "Sokka! Get up!" She yelled this time, forcing him to stand up with his eyes wide open.

"It's morning already—IT'S MORNING, WE GOTTA MOVE!" He stood up and grabbed her wrist, pulling her towards the direction of the Freedom Fighter's hideout. When they reached it, they had seen Appa where he was last night and sighed in relief. Sokka had climbed up to the saddle and helped curly up. "Alright Appa, yip yip!" He said as he pulled the reins as he had sat on Appa's head while Curly was in the saddle.

They had made it with ease towards the town, "Everyone!" Curly had tried to gather their attention as they hovered not too far above the village, "listen please!" She had said.

Most people had looked up to what she had say as she had looked to Sokka, who nodded. "You have to flee the town, the dam is going to be blown up by The Rebels in the forest! You have to leave or you're all in danger."

"And why should we believe you?" One Fire Nation guard had said, "How do we know you're not working with them and trying to trick us so we can leave the valley?"

Another guard agreed, "He could be a spy."

"I'm not!" Sokka defended himself, "I'm serious! We don't have much time."

"Like I'll listen to a kid like you, those little brats have been causing trouble for years!" The first guard had said, Curly had narrowed her eyes.

She had sighed, "I was one of those brats you're talking about, but I never knew that Jet-"

"See! She's one of them!" They just weren't going to listen to reason.

"They're telling the truth." Everyone had turned their gaze to a old man, and Sokka had recognized him immediately. "He's the guy that tried to stop those kids from robbing me. He's telling the truth." He had said as Curly had blinked a few times and then looked to Sokka who smiled.

"Alright, everyone needs to flee opposite of the town. It's the only safe place. It'll be high ground for when the river comes flowing through." Sokka had instructed as the towns people started muttering and then began to walks towards the opposite end of town, towards the bank.

They had let the towns people with Appa towards the safe area for when the damn was broken. "Thank you, young man and young woman." One woman had said.

Curly had smiled, "It's no problem. We just don't innocent people should die because of someone's vendetta against the Fire Nation." She had said. "Be careful." She had said before looking to Sokka, "We did it. Now, we have to go help your sister and Aang." She had said as he had nodded and then turned towards the direction where the cliff, where Jet and the others were operating from last night. The dam had blew, which had caught them both by surprise. "Hurry!"

"This was a victory, Katara. Remember that. The Fire Nation is gone and this valley will be safe." They had heard Jet say.

"It will be safe—without you." Sokka had triumphantly said as the group had looked up at them in shock.

"Sokka!" Katara then looked over to see Curly, "Curly?"

Curly had nodded her head and then looked at Sokka and then back at Jet, "We warned the villagers of your plan, just in time."

"What?!" Jet had shrieked.

"At first they didn't believe us. The Fire Nation soldiers assumed I was a spy and immediately didn't trust Curly because she admitted to being a Freedom Fighter. But one man vouched for me—the old man you attacked. He urged them to trust me, and we got everyone out in time."

"You fools! We could've freed this valley!" Jet had barked.

"Who would be free—everyone would be dead." Sokka retorted.

"You traitor!" He glared menacingly at the water tribe boy before looking to Curly, "And you're the biggest traitor of them all."

Curly had kept a blank face, "No. I'm not a traitor Jet. You told me that we would be fighting the bad guys, and I did. I fought you. You were the bad guy this time. We were supposed to protect the innocent, and give kids shelter. Not kill people, we told each other that we would never kill again and you broke that promise."

Jet had furrowed his brows and then looked down, not able to respond to her words. He had then looked to Katara, "Katara, please—help me."

"Goodbye Jet." Katara had said as she had climbed onto Appa's saddle with Aang using his airbending to land on the saddle.

Sokka then gave Appa's reins a flick, "Yip yip." They had flew towards the sky, the sky was cleared for the most part saved for the few, thin clouds.

"We thought you were going to the dam. How come you went to the town instead?" Aang had asked.

Katara then spoke up, "Lemme guess—your instincts told you."

Sokka had then looked to Curly who was peering down at the ground, a bit amazed to be so high in the sky. "No, I listened to someone else."

Curly had looked at Sokka and then smiled. "What are you going to do now, Curly?" Katara had asked, "You can continue to travel with us." She had offered.

"Yeah, you'll be able to travel the world." Aang then tried to add to the excitement.

The former Freedom Fighter had chuckled and then shrugged, "It's not like I have much of a choice."

"Welcome to the team, Curly."

* * *

Thanks for the reviews!


	3. Chapter 3: Captured

**Disclaimer:** I do not, I definitely do not, own Avatar: The Last Airbender or its characters.

* * *

_Everything was bright, too bright. Her eyes were squinted as she could barely see what was in front of her. There was an outline of a person, and she could feel what she believed to be was hands on her shoulders. As her vision started to get clearer, seeing something bright like fire behind the person in front of her had caught her attention. The smell of burning wood had filled her nostrils but she tried to be focus on the person who was still very much blurred out in front of her. The screams of the people around her were low, the person who was in front of her had a voice that was much louder. She could hear them over anything else. "—listen to me." They had said which she now knew was a voice of a man. "—my daughter… You have to listen to me." He had said. She was now even more sure that this man was her father._

_"Papa…" She had said, out of her own control. This was a memory in a dream and she had no power, no control. "Papa, where's Ma? What's going on?" She had questioned, "Pa!" She had screamed, "what's going on?!" She had questioned again, there was much fear and anger imbued in the young voice._

_The man, who was now clearer to her now, had eyes that reminded her of a shade of sunflowers. They were now looking at her with a mixture of many emotions. "—listen to Papa." He had said to her, his hands gripping her small shoulders tightly. "You're Papa's little warrior, aren't you?" He had asked her and she had slowly nodded her head. "And you know to always listen to Papa, right? What did Papa always tell you since you were really small?" He had asked another question in which she had given the same response. "—as long as you walk on this earth, don't ever give up on faith; keep the light burning." He had closed his eyes. "Keep it burning, keep it strong. Never let it dimmer. Never let it die."_

_"Always keep the light burning. Keep it burning, keep it strong. Never lit it dimmer. Never let it die."_

"W-Where… am I?" Curly had asked herself as she had laid on the cold, metal floor. Her eyes lazily looking ahead at the bars in front of her, her eyes had widened slightly as she had then tried to stand but she was restricted. Her hands had immediately looked down at the cuffs around her wrists, the chains that were on the floor. She was imprisoned. She was captured. Curly had begun to pant as she had looked around the cell. "LET ME OUTTA HERE!" She had roared but went into a coughing fit as she realized that she was parched.

"Oh, you're awake." The voice had caught her attention as an old man had approached her cell and knelt down in front of the bars. "I wish my nephew didn't take you as prisoner—"

"Then let me go!" She had said, "If you don't like it then free me, if you're not then you can save me with that bull crap!" She had heaved.

The man had closed his eyes, his lips pressing together. He had then spoke, "You're right. I shouldn't talk about something that I can't do. I apologize."

Curly had looked away from him, her golden eyes staring at the cup of tea in front of her. The steam had swirled out of it, slowly dissipating in the air. She had tasted her tongue, wanting to drink but she didn't want to seem to need it. "Then why are you here?"

"I wanted to check on you." He had said, "You were a bit roughed up after the fight with my nephew and then you were paralyzed by a shirshu." He had informed her as her memory seemed a bit foggy.

Her eyes had then widened suddenly, "Where's Aang? Where's Sokka and Katara?" She questioned.

"You made the young Avatar and his friends leave you behind. You sacrificed yourself for them." He had explained as she had looked down at the floor beneath them. "It was brave but it is why you're here."

The female had closed her eyes tightly, "Well… As long as they are safe then that's fine." She had said softly and then sighed.

"How rude of me," He had said as she had opened her eyes and looked at him. "I didn't introduce myself! My name is Iroh, I'm the Former General of the West. Now I am just an old man who is help chasing the Avatar."

This man, this Iroh seemed to perplex her. She had looked at him curiously. "Okay…" was her reply, not indulging him.

He merely smiled as he had opened the cell's door. "Don't tell my nephew I gave you tea." He had said as he had raised the cups to her lips. "I brewed it myself. It's not poisoned…" Now she was hesitant since he said that, she had jerked her face away from the cup. "I shouldn't have said that…" He laughed nervously.

He had then placed the cup in front of her and closed the cell door, locking it. "I'll come back to see you again, and with some food. You must be hungry." He had then bowed his head and then left, leaving her alone with the cup of tea.

Her eyes had stared down at the cup, seeing her reflection off the surface of the hot drink. "Why can't I remember anything?" She had asked herself as she had closed her eyes. "I remember us meeting Aunt Wu."

**/ Flash Back /**

_"Aunt Wu?" Curly had repeated the name he had said to her._

_"Yes, she's the fortuneteller from my village. Awful nice knowing your future." A man had said as she had then thought about something._

_"Then she would know the past too, right?" Curly had asked._

_He had shaken his head. "No, just the future."_

_Curly had frowned, "I see.."_

_Bushes had rustled and they had looked to see Sokka, Aang, and Katara with Appa and Momo following behind them. "There you are Curly! We heard a platypus bear." Aang had said._

_"Yeah, there was one." Curly had said as she had looked at the overly calm man. "It was trying to attack this man but I stepped in and made it run away."_

_The trio had looked towards the strange man, "Why didn't you try to run away from it?" Katara asked._

_"I was told a fortune by Aunt Wu that I would have a safe journey." The man had explained._

_Sokka had scratched the side of his head, "But you didn't because you were almost attacked."_

_"But I wasn't." The man nodded as he kept firm to his belief in the fortune. "Alright, have a good one." He had waved and started to walk away but he had stopped and turned back, "Oh, and Aunt Wu said if I met any travelers to give them this." Since Aang was closest, he had gave the boy a long, thin wrapped object and walked away._

_Katara, now intrigued, had spoken. "Maybe we should go see Aunt Wu and learn our fortunes. It could be fun."_

_"Oh come on," __While Sokka spoken, Aang shreds the object's wrapping that the man who had given him to reveal an umbrella, __"fortunetelling is nonsense." When Sokka finished speaking, the umbrella opens in Aang's hand._

_"What do ya know, an umbrella!" Aang said excitedly._

_Curly had sniffed the air and then tilted her head back to look at the sky, and seen the sky had darken almost instantaneously as thunder boomed through the sky and it began to pour down raining. Curly had run next to Aang to stand next to him under his umbrella. "That proves it." Katara had said as she had waterbend the rain in a sparkling arc away from her head and joined Curly and Aang underneath the umbrella._

_Sokka had picked up a large egg he had found, happily mind you, and placed it above his head to try and deflect the rain droplets. "No it doesn't – you can't really tell the future."_

_"Sokka, why don't you take one of those huge leafs and—" Curly tried to suggest but he was being stubborn._

_"I'm fine." He huffed._

_"I guess you're not really getting wet then." His sister said snidely as they had walked down a road while Sokak struggled with the egg he had found. He was soaked from head-to-toe and Curly kept giving him sympathetic eyes._

_"Of course she predicted it was gonna rain. The sky's been gray all day." Sokka went on, still skeptical._

_Curly had sighed and shook her head, "Stop being so silly." She had said to him. "Have a little faith."_

_"Yeah, just admit you might be wrong and you can come under the umbrella." His sister had urged._

_Her brother still wasn't buying it. "Look, I'm going to predict the future now—" The trio under the umbrella had stopped and watched him, all of them looking at him with strange expression. He moved his arms in this noodle-formation, and his voice was like an exaggerated wizard. "It's going to keep drizzling." He folded his arms across his chest, his face reeking a defiant expression. "See!"_

_Magically—and a bit scary—the rain had stopped. Curly had blinked a few times as Aang lowered the umbrella and they were able to see the clouds move and let the sun shine through. "Not everyone has the gift, Sokka." Aang had said._

_"Seems more like black magic to me…" Curly had mumbled, "I mean how did it just stop like that? That's not weird to anyone?" She had asked them and both Katara and Aang shook their heads._

_"We've seen that happen plenty of times." Katara had said, waving off Curly's paranoia._

_They had continued down the road until they had seen a gate that had protected a village. The group had walked through the gates and into the square of the village. "Wow, it is nice in here." Curly had complimented the village._

_"Very clean, calm, and quiet." Aang had added._

_One door with a circular door had a woman dressed in black come out of it, and she had walked towards them to greet them. "Aunt Wu is expecting you." The woman had said._

_"Really?" Katara inquired as Curly rose a brow suspiciously._

_They had walked forward anyway, Sokka obviously disgusted and put off by it all. They had went into a room and sat on the sitting pillows. Curly had looked around the place as the woman closed the door behind them and then a young girl with a kimono and hair braids that stuck out boldly from the sides of her head had entered from the opening on the left. "My name is Meng and I'm Aunt Wu's assistant." She had quickly introduced herself._

_Curly had then gave a nod towards Meng before looking around the interior. "Pretty spiffy.." She whistled until she paid attention to Meng and her obvious focus on Aang. "Can I get you some tea, or some of Aunt Wu's special bean curd puffs?"_

_"I'll try a curd puff." Sokka had said but Meng was not interested._

_"Just a second." She said as she focused her focus' entirety on the Avatar. Curly choked back a laugh as she received a glare from the watertribe boy beside her._

_He folded his arms and leaned closer to her, "And what are you laughing at?" He had asked._

_The black-haired girl looked away innocently and shrugged, "Laughing? I don't know what you mean."_

_"Don't play dumb with me, Curly." His bottom lip had stuck out in a pout as she had whistled, not paying him any attention._

_"—And you've got some pretty big ears, don't you?" Curly had listened in on Meng's conversation with Aang._

_The twelve-year-old was confused, "I…guess.."_

_Sokka had then dabbled in the conversation again. "Oh, don't be modest. They're huge!" The boy spread his arms wide to demonstrate just how supposedly huge Aang's ears were, which made him receive an angry glare from Aang. He even put his hands over his ears to cover them._

_"Well Aang, it is very nice to meet you. Very nice." Meng had said with a smile._

_"Likewise." Aang had said as the girl had then left the room._

_"Well…" Curly had said as all three of them looked at her, "just what are we supposed to do here? What does Aunt Wu want with us?"_

_"I don't know, but I still can't believe we're here in the house of nonsense." Sokka was still skeptical and unenthusiastic._

_Katara had looked at her brother, "Try to keep an open mind, Sokka. There are things in this world that just can't be explained. Wouldn't it be nice to have some insight into your future?"_

_"What would be nice to have some bean curd puffs." Curly had hung her head at Sokka's words and shook her head._

_His sister expressed her agitation with her brother by her expression. Meng had brought the tray of bean curd puffs and through some luck and with Aang helping her not drop them, it was now on the table. Before Curly could help herself to one, a voice had caught her by surprise. "Welcome young travelers. Now, who's next? Don't be shy." It was Aunt Wu._

_"I guess that's me." Katara had said as she had then stood, leaving the three behind. She had run to follow the woman._

_Sokka was stuffing his face while Curly just took her first bite into one. "Not bad. Not bad. Mmmm!" He had offered a puff to Aang, who had pushed it away._

_"I'm good on puffs. So...what do you think they're talking about back there?" Aang had questioned._

_Sokka had spoke as Curly had listened to what he had to say. "Boring stuff, I'm sure. Love. Who she's going to marry. How many babies she's gonna have."_

_"How is that boring stuff? Don't you want to know things like that?" Curly had asked, "The woman who marries you is probably insane."_

_Aang had chuckled at Curly's words in which Sokka gave her a deadpan expression, "But do you agree on what Sokka said?" He had asked Curly._

_The girl had nodded her head. "It's something most girls want to know, especially feminine girls like Katara."_

_"You saying you're not feminine?" Sokka had asked, "Maybe that's what's wrong with you."_

_The girl had glared at him. "Unfortunately I would say I am to a certain extent, but Katara doesn't have my troubles and that's why I assume that thought, bean curd boy."_

_Aang had then gave a nervous laugh, "Well, I've gotta find a bathroom!" The boy had sped off, leaving Curly and Sokka. Curly had watched Sokka stretch out over the pillows and eat another puff before Momo had stolen the entire bowl._

_"Maybe I should've went first." Curly had sighed, "Now I'm stuck with boy-eats-a-lot."_

_"Hey! I'm man-eats-a-lot! Thank you." Sokka had said as the girl rolled her eyes._

_"Right. Whatever helps you sleep at night, Sokka."_

_He had sighed and then rubbed his somewhat full stomach. "Is it about your amnesia?" queried Sokka._

_The girl now in front of him had drifted her eyes towards the table, her eye-lids lowered have way as her eyes had softened and she had delved deep into thought. "No," Sokka had sat up as he noticed the seriousness in the atmosphere around her. "It's nothing." She decided not to talk about it. "Just my hypersomnia." She had lied and gave him a smile._

_He had knitted his brows together and stared at her a few minutes but decided to let it go even though he had his doubts. "What are you going to ask Aunt Wu?" He then questioned, "Not that she's going to predict right."_

_Curly had fiddle with her thumbs in thought. "Well, I want to know if my future looks promising as far as I want it to be. Will I become stronger? Will I know more about myself…Will I forever feel lost and not know who I am? Will I find my parents? Will I find all the answers I need to know?"_

_Sokka's expression had softened at her words and he then sat up, "Curly—" Aang had then walked back into the reception room, quite happy too. "Looks like someone had a pretty good bathroom break." Sokka commented._

_"Yeh, when I was in there..." Aang began to say but both Sokka and Curly look disgusted._

_"I don't even wanna know!" Sokka yelled, "And we have a girl in here!"_

_Curly then pointed to herself, "Hello!"_

_Aang's face had then flushed a crimson red, "I'm so sorry!" He said in a rushed manner._

_Aunt Wu and Katara had then returned. "Who's next?"_

_"Me." Curly had said as she had then stood and followed the woman towards her inner chamber. The room was quite simple to be honest. Just four red pillars rising to the roof, the square made by pillars which is depressed into the floor by a small amount so that you would have to step down into the area where the fortuneteller and her guests sit._

_In the center of the square is a small fire, four pillows lie at the four corners of the square. On the left is a small urn filled to the brim with bones. Aunt Wu had then walked over to the urn, Curly following behind. "This is the most reliable method of telling your fortune. The bones never lie." Her hand had waved over the urn with bones. "Go on, pick one." Curly had picked one at random and then sat down. "Now throw it on the fire." She had threw the bone into the fire. "The heat makes cracks in the bones and I read the bone cracks to tell your destiny."_

_A few cracks had appeared on the bone, Curly's eyes widening at Aunt Wu observed it with steady eyes. "What does it mean?" She had asked, "I mean… there's a lot."_

_The woman had then answered the girl's question. "It means there are a lot of obstacles in your life. Some you have faced and some you have not met yet." The girl had stared at the bone, her eyes observing it as well as Aunt Wu continued to speak. "You will reunite with someone from your past, someone dear. This person is great in strength but lacks conviction. They are strong but they are caged inside. Inside that cage is what they want and who they are, and it is in a constant battle that will rage on for some seasons."_

_"Is this person… Is this person going to help me remember my past?" She had asked Aunt Wu._

_The woman had nodded. "In the cold yet fiery eyes of amber, a young man holds the key to whom you are and where you're from. Meeting him will not be easy but it is a chance you have to take to know all that you want to know."_

_Curly had bit down on her bottom lip, a glimmer of hope radiating in her eyes. Curly had stood and Aunt Wu did as well, she had bowed to the woman. "Thank you so much Aunt Wu, you don't know… You don't know how much this means to me."_

_"But I do my dear. I know exactly how much it means to you." Aunt Wu had gave her a smile._

**/ End Flashback /**

A sigh escaped her as she had peered down at the tea cup in front of her, not even able to pick it up due to the chains. Her eyes had looked towards the cell doors, her ears listening to hear if someone would be making their way in the room. She had slowly inched towards the cup, pressing her lips against the rim to take a sip since it was filled to the top.

It was delicious.

Her face then flushed red as she wondered how embarrassing it looked for her to be doing this, but she didn't have any other choice. Was she going to stay thirsty or was she going to protect her pride? A groan of frustration rumbled in her throat as she had leaned forward again, taking another sip and then another until she finally emptied the cup.

She had sighed happily, enjoying the warmth that lit up in her throat from the hot drink. She had closed her eyes and leaned back against the cell's metal wall and then closed her eyes, allowing herself to try to remember more of the situation she was in.

Curly couldn't concentrate. She was hungry now and she could hear her stomach howling. A soft whine had passed through her lips as she had hung her head. "I wanna eat… I wanna eat so bad." She had shaken her head, "Some roast duck would be so good. Oh, oh! Some noodles too! Anything but those nasty sea prunes!"

She had then gasped as she had remembered that they had met with Bato. He was friends with Sokka and Katara's father. They met at him at a monastery, an abbey. The memory was lingering, not fully there but not completely gone. "Why can't I fully remember?" She sighed, "This is so irritating…"

"My brain's all messed up. Anything past nine is a blur and now I can't even remember what happened a few days ago… or yesterday. How long has it even been?" She continued to question herself aloud. Nobody was here to listen to her and she wanted to entertain herself and straighten out her thoughts, so talking to herself would do just fine.

"Curly," She called herself, "why do you always get in shitty situations? Situations that do not benefit you. Always sacrificing yourself for other people and never looking towards the things you wanted. I mean, you wanted to meet Prince Zuko so I can see why you got yourself, I dunno, captive. But this is so dumb! You're starving. You couldn't be his friend or something? Then again, I don't think he's a guy who just makes friends with random people. He's a prince, and he's hunting down a twelve year-old and terrorizing him. So he might not have good people skills. The old man is nice though… Strange, but nice."

_"Do you ever think of the Freedom Fighters, Curly?"_

For some reason, she could hear Aang questioning her that. It was random and she wasn't sure why she thought about it. "Brain, is there a reason why you remember that? Does it have to do with my situation or anything I said?" She had asked it, hoping for an answer.

Curly had frowned whenever the rebel group was mentioned because it made her feel sad and even lonelier than she had felt right now. They were her family and now they were gone. She left them and never looked back. No goodbyes or anything.

"Those days are over… I should probably change my name." She had said, "After all… Jet gave it to me." She had pursed her lips as she thought about Jet.

_"You don't remember your name? Okay, I'll think of one!"_ Just remembering the way he sounded, his voice had made her smile. His voice hadn't completely dropped yet and his scratchy and broken. _"Well, your hair is curly… kinda. So, your name will be Curly!"_

She had chuckled to herself even though her vision had fogged up with tears that seemed to roll down the corner of her eyes. _"You'll always be safe with me Curly. I'll never let anything happen to you."_

Her eyes had squeezed shut as she had tried to choke back the sob that was tingling up her throat. She told herself that she couldn't miss him. That she was supposed to hate him for what he was going to do to those children, to those innocent people. But Jet was still Jet. He was the boy who saved her. He was her best friend.

She hated this. She hated being alone because now she was left alone to think about things that she had pushed into the back of her mind. All her fears and her pain were now surrounding her, suffocating her. The sound of a metal, creaking door had filled the air and she had immediately blinked back her tears and hung her head, letting her hair shadow over her face.

The sound of feet had scuffled against the floor and the door was shut. The person who entered the room had walked down the small aisle. "So now you're finally awake." The voice had said, her body jolting at the sound of it. She wasn't sure why his voice had sparked such a reaction and she could feel that sense of nostalgia waving over again, but it was heavier this time.

It made her chest tight, and it made it hard for her to breathe. She had inhaled and then exhaled deeply, doing it three times before she finally scrounged up the courage to raise her head and look at the boy that stood so regally in front of her. The first thing she looked at it was his eyes. Those amber pupils that Aunt Wu told her about: _"In the cold yet fiery eyes of amber, a young man holds the key to whom you are and where you're from. Meeting him will not be easy but it is a chance you have to take to know all that you want to know."_

They were just as she had described them. His eyes were bright like a flame but the gaze was cold, unfeeling. He had looked back into her eyes without breaking contact. His lips were a thin line, his expression borderline vexed and inquisitive. "Are you going to tell me answers now? You've had your rest."

"Who are you?" Was the first thing she managed to say.

He looked appalled—confused even. "Why do you mean who am I?" He questioned, "I'm the Prince of the Fire Nation you slugged at the abbey!" His left hand immediately went to his jaw, "Good thing it wasn't broken or else you probably would've been more than just hostage."

She had punched him? Curly's eyes had widened just a fraction but she was mentally proud of herself that she had landed a good hit square in the Fire Nation prince's jaw. "Well, it was with reason. I can assure you." She had said smugly.

The corner of the boy's lips had dipped down in a frown by just an inch. She was testing his patience. "We're enemies. Enemies fight by nature." He had retorted, "But you won't be doing that again, chained or not." He reassured her.

Her eyes had stared his scar. It was ugly, unsightly even and she wondered what had caused it. A firebending training accident maybe? Maybe another firebender had done it. She had studied it for a few minutes before he had spoken again. "Things will be easier if you cooperate. If you don't, you just won't eat or—" He had noticed the teacup, empty and before her. His eyes had narrowed as he had then looked towards the door of the holding. "Uncle…" He growled.

She had lowered her gaze to the cup as well, staring at it for a few minutes. "I wouldn't have been able to speak if I didn't drink. My throat was getting dry and raspy." She had lied even though that was going to happen if she hadn't had anything to drink a little while longer. She wasn't sure why she was covering for the man, she still didn't know if he poisoned her drink or not.

"I see." The Prince had said as she had felt slightly relieved that the older man was off the hook. "But I still want my answers. Where is the Avatar heading?"

He watched as she had then looked back up at him, curling and then uncurling her fists as she had remained silent for some time. He decided to try to be patient. She wasn't being necessary uncooperative just yet. "I don't know." She finally said, shrugging her shoulders. "I can't really remember much of anything… I don't even remember how long I've been held captive here."

He was surprised. Her memory was that spotty? She was too young to have such horrible memory. "What direction was the Avatar heading to during your travels? Do you remember that?"

Curly had looked down in thought, closing her eyes if she see if she could even remember that. She wasn't going to tell him the truth, he could've forgot about that but she could at least pretend like she was. Her stomach then grumbled again, her eyes becoming big and wide as a blush had stained her pale face.

She felt completely embarrassed.

The Prince had sighed, growing a little frustrated. He had even pinched the bridge of his nose, massaging it. "If you tell me the answer then I'll let you have a meal."

"I really don't remember.. I just know we stayed in the Earth Kingdom mostly. We went through some… canyon with these two groups. Then, we got caught in this really bad storm… We went to a village with a fortuneteller..." She had then hummed as she closed her eyes tightly, searching through her memories. "And then Sokka and Katara got really sick and so Aang made me stay behind and take care of them while he got them medicine, which were frozen frogs. Really nasty." She had shivered at the thought. "And then… we were at the abbey."

"Not once during your travels, you remember the Avatar speaking of where he was going?" He had asked her.

She had sighed, "I don't remember… If he did, it didn't stay significantly in my memories."

Zuko had set his jaw and looked away. "I'll give you something to eat, but I expect to know more or it'll be your last meal." He had walked out of the room and she had sighed once again.

"Cold… He's mostly cold." Curly had muttered under her breath. "At least I get something to eat though." She had said to herself, commending herself for doing all that she could. "I wonder what food he's gonna give me… probably something Fire Nation. What am I talking about? Of course it'll be something Fire Nation." She could hit herself for her own stupidity. "So that means it'll be spicy, I like spicy food."

Her eyes had looked around the cell as she pondered more. "How come I didn't remember anything from my past other than Aang, Sokka, and Katara? I guess I'm asking for a bit much… It's not like all the memories would come flooding back, right? Though I had a weird dream… I can barely remember it though."

The door had opened and she had perked up. It was that old man again. "Hey, it's you!" She said more enthusiastically this time.

He had given her a smile. "You get to eat! I'm hungry as well. I figured we could eat dinner together." He had said.

"Dinner?" She had questioned, "It's that late?"

"It is nearly sunset… They should've made windows down here. It's so dark and dreary." Iroh had sighed as he had opened the cell doors and even uncuffed her from her chains. She was surprised, rubbing her wrists and wincing since they felt a bit sore.

"Why did you free me?" Curly had questioned.

"How else were you going to eat?" He had asked her, "And do you expect me to feed you?"

He had a good point.

Curly had nodded understandingly and knew that the reason why they allowed this man around her and have the ability to come in her cell and have the key to her cuffs was because he was strong. They trusted that he could handle anything she could throw out, so fighting him seemed like a bad idea.

After stretching out her fingers, she had washed as he pushed a small table tray in front of her and placed his in front of him. Their plates consisted of chili, steamed fish, and white rice. Her eyes had scanned over the food, she had inhaled the scent of the freshly cooked food into her nostrils and let out a dreamy sigh.

Iroh had smiled at her, "You must've—" He stopped himself as he watched the girl break her chopstricks a part and then dived into the food. She had first ate the rice, stuffing clumps and clumps of white rice I her mouth and even had to bring the bowl to her face to finish. She had then picked up the plate of chili, using the spoon to scoop it up easily without so much of a word.

His eyes were wide as it seemed like the girl didn't even take time to breathe. She was eating like she had no limits. Like she didn't have a meal in _years_. He steadily chewed on his rice as he watched her chew away at the fish, reminding him of an animal in the wild. His mouth had then gaped open as the bowl and plate was clear.

There was not even one piece of rice or crumbs left. She had used her pinky as a toothpick to pink in between her teeth and patted her protruding stomach. She had then let out a long and loud burp and then picked up the glass of juice and downed it.

"That was good." Was all she had said. He still looked at her in shock, unsure of what to say. Curly had then blinked a few times, "What?"

"…It's just… Well, uhm…" He decided to drop it right then and there. "So, tell me about yourself. I heard the young ones call you Curly. Is that a nickname?"

She had nodded, "Well… It's more like my temporary name until I know my real one."

"You don't know your real name?" He had questioned, astonished. "So you have amnesia?"

Curly had nodded her head. "I can't remember anything before the age of nine, really. Who my parents are, where I'm from… It's all a blur."

"That's a shame." Iroh had said, sympathizing. "I'm sure you'll know everything one day soon."

"Oh, I know I will." Curly had said with a smile. "I'll never give up." She had said confidently.

The man had returned her smile, "That's the spirit."

"I told you all to require information about the Avatar, not to laze around when we docked!" The voice was muffled but Iroh knew exactly who that was and Curly could guess from the sound of the voice.

"Who is he to you, anyway? Are you, like, his guardian?" Curly had asked, "If you don't mind me asking that is."

Iroh had sighed, "I'm his uncle but a guardian is very close."

"So you're the Fire Lord's brother?" She had said with wide eyes, not believing such a prestigious man would be with an exiled child.

He had nodded as he had then ate a piece of his steamed rice that was finely garnished. "I am." He was truthful as ever.

Her eyes then shifted towards the area where the door was and then at her empty dishes. "I honestly don't remember which direction that the Avatar was going, but I doubt Prince Zuko would believe me."

"He doesn't have much to go on." His uncle had said, "But I guess that would make him relentless on keeping you captive."

"Why is he chasing the Avatar anyway?" Curly had then asked Iroh.

The man had sighed and picked up his glass of juice, taking a sip. "It's a long story. You should get some rest. I'd hate to chain you but—"

She had given him an understanding nod. "I know." She had moved far back into the cell, and raised her arm so he could place the cuffs back around her wrist. He had frowned while doing so and took the small table out of the cell.

"Maybe tomorrow I can get the Prince to let you get some fresh air. You'll grow sick staying down here." He had said as she had given the older man a small smile.

"Thanks, you really don't have to keep helping me." She had shaken her head, "I wouldn't want you to get in trouble.

Iroh had returned her smile, "It'll be fine."


	4. Chapter 4: The Name

**Disclaimer:** I do not, I definitely do not, own Avatar: The Last Airbender or its characters.

* * *

"Curly?"

She had rose her head and looked up to see it was Iroh. A small smile had appeared on her face as he had opened the cell doors. "What are you doing here?" She had asked him as he had unlocked her cuffs and she had rubbed her sore wrists again.

"I convinced my nephew to let you have some fresh air. It was hard but I managed." He had said, "All I had to tell him was that you'll get sick down here and be less likely to tell him all that you wanted to know."

Curly had continued to smile, "Thank you. I really miss the smell of outside air." She had said as he had led her out of the cell and out of the cell room. Her eyes had looked at the dimly-lit corridors; there were colors of red in different shades adorning the place.

He had opened the door that led to the steps which would lead them right towards the deck and opened it and she was hit with fresh air. Curly had ran outside and raised her arms, "It smells so good!" She sighed in relief as she had spun around.

She had then noticed all eyes were on her, soldiers looking at her. Her eyes then looked down at her feet as Iroh then stood beside her. The ship was steady sailing the vast, blue ocean. "Sometimes I tire smelling the ocean but sometimes it's the most wonderful smell in the world."

"I rarely got to smell the ocean. I lived in a forest for about six years." Curly had said as she had looked up at him. "Is it okay if I practice my forms? I mean, for fighting. I'm not going to hurt anyone, you can trust me. I just want to practice and sharpen them."

Iroh had looked at her and shrugged his shoulders. "I don't see why that would be a problem." He nodded.

"Hey, General Iroh!" One soldier had called Iroh's name, "How about a game of Pai Sho?"

"Just a second." He had said as he watched Curly walk towards the center of the upper deck. Her right hand had a made fist and then circled in, moving downward as if she had attacked an invisible opponent's bladder. At the same time her left hand, palm open, followed the movement of her right fist circling down. Her hands follow the movement of her feet as her right foot stepped in a half step. Her left foot follow and stamps to add more power.

Her left hand then shot out above her as if to strike a face of person much taller than herself, her right hand grabbed and pulled back the invisible arm to straighten it out. Her left hand then straightened at the elbow and pressed down with a rolling movement of her fore arm. At the same time, her right leg was withdrawn to sink into a squatting posture.

Her left leg had then reached out with her left hand. With a step forward with her right foot, she used her elbow to strike horizontally and lowered her hips. Iroh and a few other seamen had stopped to watch as she had trained.

Zuko had then approached his uncle, standing beside him. "I thought we were just allowing her air." He had said as he kept his eyes focused on the female at the center of the deck.

"She has every right to practice her forms." His uncle had said as he had watched her light and agile movements. Her footwork was intelligent and her palms moved like they were working the shuttles of a loom. "Her forms are perfect."

"What kind of fighting style is that?" Zuko had asked, curious.

The older man had hummed as he thought. "It reminds me of Bagua and then some of Xingyi…" He had said as he then stroked his beard. "Whatever it is, it is very complicated and must've taken her a long time to master, if she had mastered it."

Her moves were light but not floating, lowered but not clumsy. It was like a dance, it was graceful and sharp. Curly had stopped mid-step, her eyes now looking up to see Zuko watching her. And that's when she felt it, a memory flood through her head like a tidal wave.

**/ Flashback /**

_It was like that one dream she had before. There was small version of herself, probably around the age of seven. She was sitting on a bright, scarlet red bridge that was built over a small river. Her shoes were beside her, her feet free as her legs were through the slender rails. Droplets on her thighs had slid down her inner thighs as the tears kept falling; she sniffled and whimpered as she had tried to wipe the tears so they could stop falling. "Hey," It was that voice she remembered and she had slowly looked up to see it was a young boy. He was taller than her, his dark brown hair was pulled back into a high ponytail._

_His amber pupils had looked solely on her as he had looked at her with curiosity. "Why are you crying?" He had asked and she had continued to sniffle and tried to clear her throat._

_"I'm lost…" She had said softly, "I can't find my mom or dad." _

_He had frowned before looking back at his mother, who was busy speaking with one of the noblewomen. "I can help you find them." He had said, "It'll be easy. I'm good at finding things."_

_The girl had looked at him for a few minutes and then fiddled with the ends of her hair as she thought about his offer. "Okay." She had then said and slid back, standing now as she had walked over to him. _

_"When was the last time you had seen them?" He asked as she had then looked up at the sky, her finger pressed to her cheek as she had tried to remember where she had last seen them before they got separated. _

_"At the playground." She answered, "Papa was pushing me on the swings and then he told me to wait there while he went to look for my mother. She had left us to go shopping but after a few hours, they didn't come back."_

_The boy had hummed and then nodded, "They might've came back to the playground to look for you. Let's go." He had said as he had grabbed her hand, leading her towards the nearest playground._

_Her eyes had looked at him, a small smile on her face as she had allowed him to lead her back to the playground. They had seen two adults standing in the center of the park, spinning around and looking for their child. "Aiko!" They called, "Aiko!"_

_"Papa! Mama!" She had shouted as she had ran over towards them, they had knelt down as she had leaped towards them and landed in an embrace. _

_Her father was the first to pull away from the embrace, "Aiko, what did I tell you about wandering off? I told you to stay on the swing."_

_The girl had frowned and then looked down at her feet as she had let them go, lightly kicking the dirt beneath her feet. "Well… You were gone for a long time and so I got worried. I went looking for you but then I got lost. And he—" She had turned to point at the amber-eyed boy, "—helped me find you two."_

_Both her parents had looked in the direction her small finger had pointed in, their eyes had widened in surprise. "That's the Fire Lord's youngest grandson."_

_"Huh?" Aiko had said in surprised as she had looked over to the boy, "You're Zuko?" She had questioned as he had gave her a nod._

_"Thank you so much for bringing our daughter back to us." The woman had said as both parents had bowed._

_Zuko had smiled, "It's no big deal." He had gave them a firm nod and then turned to leave but Aiko had ran over towards him, grabbing his shirt._

_He had looked back at her in surprise, "Tomorrow.. Let's play together."_

_"You want to play… with me?" He pointed to himself, surprised._

_"Yeah, you. I want to play with you. Let's meet here." Aiko had said with a smile._

_"Okay!"_

**/ End Flashback /**

"What are you staring at?" She had immediately snapped back into reality, looking at the prince who was now standing before her.

"Nothing…" Why did she say that? Wouldn't have been simple to tell him that she remembered him? That she knew him? For some reason, she felt afraid. The words just couldn't come out.

He looked at her skeptically but decided to drop it. "What fighting style was that?" Iroh had asked, changing the direction of the conversation.

"…Oh, I don't know." A nervous laugh had exited her mouth as she had rubbed the back of her head. Curly—Aiko now that she knew her name now—had gave them a small smile. "It's just something I always do. I guess you can say, I just have the instinct to fight like that."

Iroh now figured it was due to her amnesia that she didn't remember the fighting style and who taught it to her. He decided not to press on it as his nephew seemed even more confused. "You don't remember anything, do you?"

"Not really." Aiko had said as she had fiddled with the ends of her hair, curling the tips of her hair around her finger. "My memory is terrible."

Zuko had observed her force of habit, noting it as it seemed vaguely familiar. "It's about time—" His uncle had cut him off abruptly.

"How about a game of Pai Sho?" Iroh had then offered, knowing very well that his nephew was hurrying in trying to send her to the cells. The teenage boy had knitted his brows together, obviously frustrated.

"What's that?" Aiko had asked him curiously, "Is it…a board game or like a physical activity?" She had asked as she had tilted her head to the side in curiosity.

"It's a board game. Let me show you how to place? Prince Zuko, you are busy aren't you?" Iroh had said as he had pat the girl's shoulder and placed his hand behind her back to slowly and carefully push her forward towards the Pai Sho table.

Aiko had looked at him with question and then looked at the prince. "Fine." His response was quick as he had walked away from them, Iroh sighing in relief.

"That was a close one." He had said, "But yes, let's play and I'll make us some tea!" He seemed happy, which only made her believe that Pai Sho must've been a game that he loved.

"Okay." She had shrugged her shoulders, not seeing anything wrong with it. At least it gave her more time to be out of her cell.

Iroh had quickly explained the rules of the game to Aiko, who had nodded her head once she seemed to understand everything. "Ladies first." Iroh had nodded, allowing her to take the first move.

Aiko had slid one tile forward with her finger, her eyes glued to the board. He had smiled at her move and her obvious interest. Sometime she had to force Zuko to play with him, and it wasn't because lost interest but it was because his mind would always get clouded with other things and he would make silly mistakes. This girl, however, was focused.

Zuko had watched from the other side of the deck, his arms folded as he watched the two go back and forth in turns. Occasionally she would take long to make her move, studying the board several times and even fiddling with her hair as she thought. It reminded him of someone but he couldn't really think of who it was.

"Who is that girl, Prince Zuko?" One soldier had asked, "Is she the girl we took as prisoner the other day?"

The Prince had looked towards the soldier, raising a brow. "Are you questioning me?" He had asked, his voice was dangerously low.

The man had stiffened and immediately shook his head. "N-No! Not at all Prince Zuko! I-I was just curious! I'll go back to work now."

"You do that." The Prince said as he watched his uncle and the strange girl before turning away and pulling out his telescope to scan the skies for the flying bison.

"Hmm…" Aiko had hummed as it seemed Iroh had trapped all her active pieces. Knowing she's about to lose, she had tried a strategy that she thought could work and slid one tile two paces forward.

Iroh had smiled and chuckled, "That was a good game." He had said as he had did the winning move, Aiko had pouted in defeat. "You did well for a beginner."

"I did? Well, that counts for something!" She stated happily, clapping her hands. "I'm not really good at games like these. The rules, they are simple but strategy isn't much of my forte. I always left that to Jet—"

Iroh noticed the way she had paused as she had said the name, her eyes lowering down to her lap as her smile had disappeared. No trace of it left. "That's fine. There are some things people are strong in and some things aren't people aren't. I'm sure if you work hard, you can be better than what you were before."

Her eyes had looked up at Iroh as she had gave him a nod, "I suppose so. I can't rely on anyone anymore."

"Jet was someone you relied on?" He questioned, "You don't have to speak about it if you don't want to." He assured her.

Aiko had smiled, "It's fine." She told him as she had rubbed her arm. "Jet was my best friend and leader of the Freedom Fighters. We fought against Fire Nation soldiers, who had taken over the valley in the Earth Kingdom. I thought we were doing it for the right reasons and we were at first but over time… my friend had gotten too warped in his hatred for the Fire Nation. He wanted revenge and he had let it consume him."

"Revenge can do that to people." Aiko had nodded, "He can find his way out though, and I hope he does."

She had smiled, "I hope so too."

"You two must've been really close." Iroh had said as she had nodded.

"We were." She had muttered and then let out a sigh, "But it doesn't matter anymore. We've gone our separate ways."

A man had then approached them and gave a slight bow, "General Iroh, lunch is ready."

Iroh had given the soldier a nod and smile, "Thank you." He had stood and then looked to Aiko, who had looked at him with a puzzled expression. "Come on." He urged.

She had stood and followed behind Iroh as he had led her to what appeared to be a dining room. Sitting there already was Prince Zuko, who rose a brow a she had entered the room. "Uncle, why is our hostage here?"

"She deserves lunch." Iroh had replied as Aiko looked down at her feet, not wanting to say anything to anger the Prince and to get Iroh in trouble.

Zuko had sighed and massaged the bridge of his nose, "She doesn't deserve anything. She's a prisoner."

Iroh had opened his mouth to defend Aiko but she had spoken instead. "Prince Zuko is right." She had said. Both men were surprised by her words, their eyes focused on her as she had bowed deeply. "Forgive me for acting on my own accord. Never should I thought I deserve anything or was entitled to anything." She had then looked at Iroh, "You can take me back to my cell now."

"But Curly…" The man was hesitant but commended her for not wanting to start a fight with the prince. She was taken a smoother course. He had then nodded and started to lead her out of the door.

"Stop." Both of them had looked at each other, Aiko giving Iroh a mischievous smile. He was surprise but then smiled in return, both of them had looked at Zuko with solemn faces. "Just sit down, both of you."

Aiko and Iroh had sat down at the table. She was at his right while Iroh sat at his left. Her hands had rested in her lap as she had waited for the food to arrive. "Curly is your name?" Zuko had asked her and she had shook her head.

Iroh had risen a brow, "Curly was a name given to me because I didn't know my name. I know my name now." The older man was surprised at her words. "My name is Aiko."

His eyes had widened slightly, not enough for Zuko to catch it. Iroh had smiled, "That's a really beautiful name."

"I think so too." Aiko had said happily as she had fiddled with the ends of her hair, "I don't know which parent gave it to me though. My memories aren't all back."

The Prince had lowered his gaze and then spoke again, "Do you remember anything concerning the Avatar?"

She had bit the inside of her cheek lightly, wondering what she should say. She remembered now that they were heading towards the North Pole. If she lied about which direction, he was sure to find out. "North." She hated herself for saying it but North could've met anywhere, couldn't it? It could've meant North of the Earth Kingdom. What if they went to the Northern Air Temple? She wouldn't have helped them at all.

"North?" Zuko had repeated and thought about it, "He might be looking for an Earthbending master." The chef had came in with a cart full of food. He had placed three bowls of sea soup, a plate of boiled vegetable and meat dumplings, a bowl of white rice, and place a kettle of tea down on the table as well.

Her lie seemed to be be working, however. He didn't suspect the North Pole. "I think I remember him saying that." Aiko lied as she had picked up her already separated chopsticks. She had then heard Iroh clear his throat which captured her attention, he then shook his head which made her confused.

She had slowly reached for the bowl of soup and he cleared his throat again, shaking his head. "Uncle, is something wrong?" Zuko had asked as the man had gave a strange laugh.

"No, there was just something in my throat. I should eat slowly." That's when Aiko caught on. She tried to suppress a laugh but brought the bowl of soup closer to her and lifted the bowl and took a slow and half mouthful sip.

She could feel two pairs of eyes on her and she had tried her best to be "dainty" as Iroh tried to warn her about a few minutes ago. Aiko had placed the bowl and down, a smile now on her face. "This seafood soup is delicious. Thank you Chef!"

The Chef was in awe at her praise; his eyes even brimmed up with tears. Aiko had blinked twice as he had ran over to her, taking her hands and pulling them to her check. "Thank you, young lady! I never received such a compliment!"

"Oh, uh… I don't understand why. I mean, the Prince kept you as his Chef so he must obviously thing your cooking is topnotch." She had said.

Zuko had rose a brow at her words as his eyes then gazed at the chef, who was now plain out crying. "YOU DON'T KNOW HOW THIS MAKES ME FEEL, YOUNG LADY. I WORK SO HARD AND TO HEAR ALL MY HARDWORK IS WORTH IT MAKES ME SO HAPPY!"

This man surely was…animated. Aiko had chuckled and leaned closer to the chef, "Your fish is the best I ever had in all my fifteen years of life. Keep doing your job, please."

Iroh had smiled as the chef had thrown himself at her feet and hugged her legs, his wails ringing throughout the room. "YOU ARE AN AGNISEND!"

She had rubbed the back of her head, "I'm just speaking the truth."

Zuko had continued to eat without so much giving attention to the chef and Aiko anymore. Iroh had chewed his food with a smile before taking a sip of the sea soup. "She's right, it is delicious." He added as the man had cried even louder.

Aiko had then patted the man atop of his head, "Well… You should get back to work, Chef sir…"

The man had stood and wiped his tears, nodding his head. "I shall work even harder!" He had taken the empty tray and left, his head up high as he walked with a strut.

"Wow…" Aiko had said now that the man was gone and the door was closed. She had then shifted towards her soup as she had taken more sips and even got the taste of the pieces of shrimp in it. She had then picked up her chopsticks and picked up a dumpling, giving small blows to the food to cool it down.

"Prince Zuko," Aiko said to him as the teenager had shifted his attention to her, "if you don't mind…" She had placed her hands on her lap, grabbing a handful of her black tights. "Could we spar?"

Iroh and Zuko were surprised at her words, "Why do you ask?"

"On the way here, I saw a pair of broadswords. I…" She wasn't sure why she had felt so nervous under his gaze but she had tried to be polite by giving him eye contact even though it felt like her heart wanted to leap out of her chest. "And I'm good with a sword too and I want to brush up on my skills."

Iroh had then looked to his nephew to see what his answer would be. The Prince had closed his eyes and sat there in thought for a few minutes. "I'll think about it."

Aiko's face had read disappointment. She figured that was equivalent as no. She had nodded in reply and continued to eat. "So, how did you remember your name, Aiko? Iroh had asked to fill the silence.

"Hm?" She had said as she had gazed at him and then looked at Prince Zuko out of the corner of her eyes as his eyes were fixated on his food. "Well…I remember how I was on this island, seemingly lost. I got separated from my parents." Zuko had looked up from his food and looked at her with half-lidded eyes and his brows slightly scrunched together, "A boy helped me find them and they were saying 'Aiko!', 'Aiko!' and that's what they called me. So I knew right then that was my name."

The dragon of the west had smiled at her retelling of the memory. "Do you remember the boy at all?"

Aiko decided to lie again, "No. I didn't get his name but he was of importance, I knew that."

When they had finished eating, they had drunken a cup of tea at the end of their meal. About an hour later, Aiko had asked Iroh to escort her back to her cell but Zuko had intervened. He said he would do it. Aiko was now following behind the prince.

"You said it was an island."

Her eyes had looked from the metal floor and at the back of the boy's head. "Yes… I did."

"Was it called Ember Island?" He had asked.

Aiko had shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know… I just know it was an island."

He didn't say anything after that as he had opened the cell door with a key from his backpocket. "I won't chain you." He had said as she had walked into the cell and turned back to look at him as he had closed and locked it.

She gave him a smile, "Thank you."

Zuko hadn't said anything and continued towards the exit of the room but he then paused, "You'll be retrieved at dawn for that spar." He had said as she had felt her eyes lighten up.

The metal door had opened and then closed, leaving her alone in the cell. With a sigh, she had sat down and brought her knees to her chest as she had sat in the mostly dark room. "Does he remember Aiko?" She questioned herself, "Was I someone important to him? He must've been important to me…"

She had leaned her back against the wall and closed her eyes, letting her thoughts wonder. "He's still cold." Aiko had sighed, "But I guess that's better than being fiery, right? I wonder… if he'll let me out the cell soon. I'm still a hostage though…" She had yawned softly and then lied down on her side. "Goodnight Aiko."

**/**

"Excuse me." A muffled voice had said as Aiko had slowly opened her eyes, blinking a few times as she had looked up to see that it was one of the seamen of the ship. "The Prince is expecting to you."

It was dawn? She had wondered and then slowly sat up, yawning as she had gotten to her feet and walked out of the cell behind the seamen. They had gone to the deck where they had seen a shirtless Zuko standing there.

Aiko's eyes had widened slightly, her pale cheekbones spattering with dark scarlet stains as she had averted her eyes away from him. He was certainly lean, more muscular than she would've thought he would be. And why did he want to swordfight shirtless? Didn't he see it as a disadvantage or did he think he was going to win right off the bat?

Iroh had approached them and handed her, her katana. Her eyes had widened slightly as she had looked at the sword with a smile. "Thank you." She had whispered as she had placed it through the strap around her waist.

She had slowly given them enough space, a seamen had handed Zuko his broadswords. Two swords against one? It didn't seem so easy but she had asked for this. She needed to strength her skills.

Aiko had taken a gulp of air as he had tightened her right hand grip on the katana's handle. She had ran forward towards him and he had met her halfway, he didn't see the blade come out of the sheath. It was clinging against both swords; the force she had was incredible to be as petite as she was.

He shouldn't have underestimated her skill in the slightest. He smirked as he had found leverage, pushing her back and she had taken a few steps but he had swiped at her with the sword in his right hand, and she had watched the blade swiftly cut the air above her, her eyes widened from how close it was.

She had stumbled back some and let out a sigh of relief. Aiko didn't budge from her spot initially, both heels were firmly cement against the surface of the ship. With a nod, he had lunged at her aiming for her throat but she had made a swift horizontal dash, avoiding the immediate danger by just a hair.

The female had pushed him back this time and he had taken a few steps back as she was still on the move. With a twist of her palm, she had flipped the blade to the blunt side, instead having the dull metal crash against his spine which made him his and quickly turn around.

With a triumphant smirk, she had studied him for his next move. "She's pretty good." Lieutenant Jee had said as he had at next to Iroh, the other men on the ship watching the spar between the two.

"She is. She is a well-adapted fighter. She must've received training at a very young age." Iroh had said as he had taken a sip of his steaming, hot tea. "Would you like some?" He offered and was given a nod. He poured a man a cup and handed it to him.

"Prince Zuko isn't going easy on her at all." said Jee as he continued to observe the fight, "And neither is she."

"They are both aggressive fighters. They don't focus too much on defense until they feel they need to. So they are strong, rough in the beginning." Iroh had explained to Jee. "My nephew is definitely like fire. Eager to burn."

"What about her?" Lieutenant Jee questioned, "Is she like fire?"

Iroh had taken another sip of his tea, his eyes closed. "From what I have observed, she has times where she is like a flame. She is bright, she is burning… But she reminds me very much like a flower."

"She's delicate is what you're saying?" The man had taken a sip from his cup, "She hardly seems that way to me."

The old man had chuckled, "She's delicate in regards of the heart. She was withering for a while but she's beginning to blossom."

Lieutenant Jee was at a loss but he had looked back at the battle teenagers. Their swords had cling and clanged, their speed quick and their hits precise. It was like they were trapped in a dance, ready for any opportune moment for one to misstep.

Every mistake they had learned and then changed direction, able to think logically despite how quick-paced the battle was. They had separated themselves again, sweat going down their brows. Aiko had swallowed her saliva as she had watched the sweat roll down Zuko's forehead, down his neck and down his chest.

He was distracting.

Her eyes had then looked away as her hair had clung onto the sides of her face and neck, her chest rising and falling quickly. "Don't push each other too far. You both haven't had breakfast yet." Iroh had warned them.

"You ready to give up?" Aiko had furrowed her brows together and narrowed her eyes. Was he taunting her?

She had sucked her teeth and stood up straight, getting back into a stance. "Like hell." Her legs then shook and she had fell on her knees, her stomach grumbling. "Okay, nevermind, I'm hungry."

The Prince had rolled his eyes and then walked over towards her, offering her his hand. She had looked at his hand in surprise and then up at him. "Are you going to take it or not?" He was growing impatient. Aiko had hesitantly took his hand in stood, letting it go when she was back on her feet.

"Take a bath. You smell rancid." He had then walked away from her, receiving a towel from one of the henchmen and using it to wipe his face.

She stood there horrified. Looking around to see if anyone was watching her, she had lifted her arm to smell her armpit and nearly threw up. "I smell horrible… Oh my god…" Her face was red, she was flustered. "Why do I keep embarrassing myself?" She muttered.

Aiko kept her arms firmly at her sides as she had walked towards Iroh. "Could you tell me the directions of where I can take a bath? I'm sweaty and icky." She had said as he had told her to go forward and then make a right.

She had nodded and left the deck, letting out a sigh as she had went down the steps and opened the second door that had led to the corridors. Aiko had gone forward like he said when she had met the hall that had split, she went right. There were three doors in this hall.

She had seen one door say women's baths and so she assumed that this was what she would be using, Going inside of it, she had noticed that the place was large and spotless. Had nobody used this place? Were there really no women on the ship?

"How can I bathe and then put these dirty clothes back on? I need some new clothes…" Aiko had sighed as she had felt the ship fee like it was slowing. Curiously, she had went back towards the deck and looked out to see that they were slowly sailing towards what looked to be a pier.

"We have to shop for supplies." Iroh had said, "Do you need anything?"

Aiko had nodded, "Some new clothes." She had said, "I know I'm not allowed to go so can you do the shopping for me?" Aiko had asked and he had given her a nod. "I'll find the right outfit for you, don't worry."

She had smiled, "Thanks. Now I can take my bath."

When she returned to the women's bath, she had drawn up a bath at the huge tub and watched the water began to fill it up. Her eyes looked around for any soap or anything fragrant and all there was bottles of Fire Nation fragrances. It didn't hurt to try something new.

There was one bottle pushed far to the back and she had picked it up. "Springtime?" That's all it said on there and she had looked towards the tub that was nearly filled. She had added the oil in and sniffed the aroma that began to fill the air. "It smells like Sakura trees!" She said happily as she had begun to strip from her clothing and old bindings.

She even released her hair from its ponytail, letting it cascade down her back and to her hips. It was tangled and it really was curly now. Aiko had climbed in the tub and turned the faucet off, adjusting herself to the hot water. "Ow, ow!" She hissed before sitting down and letting a long sigh.

"It feels good." Aiko mumbled as she had rubbed the water against her skin and even sunk into the water, letting out bubbles.

"Excuse me." Her eyes had widened at the voice outside her door, she was surprised to hear the feminine voice. "I'm a woman, I can assure you."

So there was a woman on the ship? "Come in." Aiko had said as the door had slightly opened and woman had come in. The woman was short and think, curvaceous with short chocolate brown hair. Her eyes were a bright yellow and round and her face was heart shaped.

"I'm the assistant Chef, Charvi." The woman had introduced herself and placed the clothes on a stand at the far corner of the room.

Aiko had smiled at her and nodded, "I thought I was the only girl on the ship for a minute there."

"No, now you're just the second woman." Charvi had smiled, "These are the clothes Iroh had brought for you. And I brought you a brush, just in case you needed it. The men always have their hair wild and unmanageable." She had said as she had placed the brush next to the clothes. "If you ever need anything, just ask."

The teenager had nodded and watch the woman leave the bath, a sigh escaping Aiko had she enjoyed the hot bath just a little while longer.

After drying off her hair and body, she had gotten out of the bath and walked towards the pile of clothes. There were even new bindings in the bunch and new underwear thanks to Charvi, who left a note. "Figure you would need new underwear and sarashi. I couldn't imagine General Iroh wanting to buy those things or let alone thing about them." She had read aloud and giggled.

Putting on the underwear and placing on her new clothes, she had felt like a totally different person. Iroh kept her in Earth Kingdom colors, probably thinking that she wouldn't want to wear the Fire Nation reds. He got her new pair of black tight capris, but these ended to her knees instead of the middle of her calves.

The top was a warm shade of Jade, a crop top. It was sleeveless, high color, and a bottle part that still fastened with rubber string. It was elastic so it stretched to fit, which she had loved. He also bought a flap skirt that matched the shade of the top that was. It was long, ending to the middle of her thighs with slits up to the sides.

It was a good combat outfit, much better than her Freedom Fighter clothes. The boots went up to her ankles and they were a darker green. He even went as far as to buy her a new sword strap, which was a dim yellow that matched with Earth Kingdom colors as well as some fingerless, green gloves.

For once, she decided to keep her hair out of her ponytail and let it hang free. As it dried, it became wavy due to how many times she had brushed through it. Aiko had loved her outfit, so much that she had spun around in it twice. She felt lighter and she felt new and different. She had looked back at her old clothes, her smile slowly turning into a sad one. What would she do with her old clothes? She wanted to throw them overboard. Her Freedom Fighter days were over and by getting rid of them, she would be fully letting go of her past.

Picking up her old clothes and bindings, she had sniffed the air and smelled something burning. She had followed the direction of the smell and went down the stairs to notice that it was a large furnace. They had burned the trash their and Aiko thought maybe that was a better idea than throwing her clothes in the ocean. "Excuse me," the henchmen had looked over to her and gave her their full attention, "could I throw these in there?" She had asked and they had looked back at each other and nodded.

Slowly, she had walked towards the furnace even though the back of her mind warned her that once she did it that there was no turning back. With an exhale, she had threw the clothes in and watched them burn. "Goodbye." She had mumbled, even waving her hand at the clothes as she had bid them farewell. She had thanked the henchmen and left, going towards the deck.

Upon reaching the desk, she had watched the henchman load all of what they bought onto the ship. She had stepped out of their way; blinking several times as some men seemed to struggle from the weight of the entire thing that they had bought. "Iroh must've gone on a shopping spree." She mumbled as she had looked around for Iroh. He had seen him walking up the ramp into the ship with Prince Zuko walking beside him. "Iroh!" She had waved at him and he had waved back.

"My, the clothes really suit you!" He had said as he now stood before her, Zuko kept his gaze on for a few short minutes before averting them towards the henchman. "Green really does compliment your pale complexion."

She had smiled and looked down at her feet, her hands folded behind her as she had rocked back and forth to the tip of her toes and her heels. "You think so?"

"Yes." Iroh smiled as he had then looked at his nephew, "How does she look, Prince Zuko?"

The boy had stiffened as he was surprised that his uncle had asked him that, he had looked back at Aiko who was waiting for an answer, standing perfectly still as she kept her gaze fixated on his face. "She looks normal."

Aiko had appeared deadpan, his uncle rolling his eyes and letting out a sigh. "Thanks…" Aiko had said flatly, looking away. "Anyway, you seemed to have bought a lot of things!"

"It wasn't like we were supposed to." Zuko had said as he had folded his arms and looked at his uncle, his jaw set as the old man gave out a sheepish laugh.

"I just couldn't control myself." The older man had said as Aiko had smiled.

One henchman had walked over to Zuko, giving him a short bow. "That's everything, Prince Zuko."

"Good. We leave immediately and keep heading north. There's a rumor afoot that the Avatar is heading towards the North Pole and so are we." He had said as he had then looked to Aiko, who quickly masked her emotions. "So you were right, he was going to keep heading north."

A sad laugh had erupted in her throat as she had curled up her fingers, "Yeah…So, you trust me now, right? I don't have to keep sleeping in that dingy cell."

"You act like you are a wanted guest on our ship. You are a hostage, I'm only using you to get the Avatar. Don't think your importance is much greater than that." He spat, which left the girl speechless.

What was she expecting anyway? For him to just suddenly be her friend? Aiko had blinked back her tears as Iroh had noticed the hurt on her face. "She can still be a hostage and be treated like a human being." Iroh had come to her defense. "She has done nothing but be cooperative."

"So I'm just supposed to give her a cabin and continue to let her eat five course meals? Why should I treat her better than our henchman? She's not royalty." Zuko had said as Iroh had then understood what his nephew had meant.

Aiko had then stepped in, "Then I'll work!" Both of them had looked at her, surprised at her words. "If I can get a better place to sleep then I'll work for it. I'll work hard."

Iroh had smiled at her words and then shifted his gaze to his nephew, who had thought about what she had said for a few more minutes. "Fine. Starting tomorrow, you'll be on cleaning duty."

* * *

Writing Aiko's dream was a bit hard after listening to Coldplay's "Yellow" and Lana Del Rey's "Born to die".


	5. Chapter 5: How I See You

**Disclaimer:** I do not, I definitely do not, own Avatar: The Last Airbender or its characters.

* * *

Aiko had sat around the main deck of the ship, around a campfire as her eyes lit up at the men were playing a rather simple staccato tune. Her hands were clasped together as she had watched Lieutenant Jee play the stringed instrument as someone else had accompanied the music with drums. "Winter, spring, summer and fall." Iroh had sung slightly, "Winter and spring, summer and fall. Four seasons, four loves. Four seasons, four loves."

Her eyes then shifted to two crewmen who had danced in front of the fire. Her eyes then looked around to see if the Prince had decided to come out of his room and join them, but despite out of all the faces she couldn't find his. Aiko noticed that since the incident early in the morning, she didn't see much of him.

**/ Flashback /**

_"Why did I agree to clean?" Aiko had sighed as she had finished mopping the hallway, leaning against the wall as she had closed her eyes for a few seconds. 'My whole mission has changed now. I have to remember everything about myself, whether Prince Zuko wants to be my friend again or not shouldn't matter. I just have to get my memories back and then I can escape.' She had thought before nodding her head as she had went back to her cleaning duty._

_She had placed the mop and bucket back into the cleaning closet. With a sigh, she had walked towards Zuko's cabin, opening the door to see the prince wasn't in the room. It was clean for the most part besides his bed being a bit messy. She had fixed the sheets and blanket, trying to tuck them under the mattress to perfection since she was pretty sure he wanted things less than perfect. When she had finished had stood and looked around the cabin, wondering if the one she was working hard for would be near the same size or extremely smaller._

_Her curiosity led her over to the end table near his bed that had a single, red ribbon lying on it. Aiko had picked it up, wondering what the ribbon was from or for. "It looks like it's a hair-tie." She had said as she had brought it closer to her eyes, inspecting it. "I want you to keep it. It means a whole lot to me and I know it'll be safe with you. You don't have to wear it but just keep it safe." She had blinked a few times as she had heard the child-like voice that she remembered was hers echo through her head. "…Did I give this to him?" Aiko had whispered to herself._

_"What are you doing in my room?"_

_Aiko had frozen in place and immediately spinning around so that she could look at the prince as the metal door had close behind him. His amber orbs were narrowing at her, a glaze of heat and anger storming in them. "I…I, uh… I was cleaning you room." She had said, "And I was wondering where this would go since it was just lying on the table." Aiko had motioned the red ribbon in her hand. His steps were slow as he had walked towards her, her heart racing and beating loudly in her ears as she swallowed her saliva. He had grabbed her chin and slammed her back against the bed, leaning over her so that his face inches away from hers as her eyes had widened and splatters of a blush appeared on her cheekbones._

_She didn't even notice that the ribbon was out of her hands, she was too busy stunned by his actions and how close he was. "Don't you ever lay your hands on this again, you hear me?" His voice was dangerously silky; her heart feeling like it was going to implode in her chest from how quickly it was beating. His breath was surprisingly cool and smelled like a fresh. leaf mint. His touch was searing though; she almost believed that he was ready to set her on fire._

_He waited for a response as she had parted her ripe, cherry-red lips. "…I hear you, Prince Zuko." Aiko had answered obediently her golden eyes being defiant however by staring back at him instead of looking away to show cowardice. He had closed his eyes, setting his jaw as he had moved away from her and stood straight, placing the ribbon back at the end table beside his bed. Aiko had slowly sat up and immediately jumped on her feet, rushing out of the room. When the metal door shut behind her, she had let out a long and heavy exhale, placing both her hands atop of her heart as it was still racing._

_'I don't think I'll ever go to his room again.' She thought to herself as she had let out another sigh and closed her eyes. 'The ribbon seems to be important to him though… Maybe it's just a coincidence. I mean, he does wear a ponytail all the time. Maybe it's something significant to him from his father or something. I had no right to touch it…' Her eyes had stared at her feet for a while before leaning off of the door and walked towards the deck. She needed some fresh air after that._

**/ End Flashback /**

Aiko had stood, quietly and quickly slipping away and headed towards the Prince's room. She had pressed her ear against the metal door to see if she could hear any shuffling that would give her a sign that he was awake. With a shaky breath and a racing heart, she had knocked twice. "Prince Zuko?" She had called his name and she didn't hear anything. There was just silence.

She stood there for a few minutes before she had heard the door open, the irritation was written all over his face. "What do you want?" He had asked her as she had pressed her lips together and fiddled with the ends of her hair.

"I…" Why was she here exactly? It wasn't like he needed to be checked on, he was perfectly capable of taking care of himself. Her reasoning for coming here didn't make any sense but she knew a part of her just wanted to see him and she didn't know why. "I wanted to check on you is all." She found herself saying, wanting to kick herself for even saying it.

Zuko had gave her a blank stare which seemed to make her feel even more stupid and embarrassed. Lowering her head, she had let out a sigh. "I'm fine." He said, which had surprised her. "Uncle tried to convince you get me to play the Tsungi horn, didn't he?"

Her eyes had widened slightly as she had then covered it up, "Yeah… he did." Aiko lied, letting out a nervous laugh. "Well…I failed." She had said as he had looked at her for a few minutes as if waiting for her to explain why she was still there.

Before the uncomfortable silence took its toll on Aiko, she had looked to her right and was surprised to see Iroh. "Iroh…" She had whispered his name but Zuko had already turned around laid back down on his bed, arms folded.

"For the last time, I'm not playing the Tsungi horn." Zuko had said, not allowing himself to be budged into music night. Aiko's eyes had widened at the man behind Iroh, not knowing who he was.

"No, it's about our plans. There's a bit of a problem." The man had pushed past Iroh, entering Zuko's cabin.

"I'm taking your crew." The man had said as Aiko immediately looked to Zuko.

The Prince had turned to face the strange older man, "What?!"

"I've recruited them for a little expedition to the North Pole." The man had explained. She wondered who he was but from the looks of it, he seemed to be high ranking in the Fire Nation army due to his attire and the fact that he had power to do as he pleased.

"Uncle, is that true?" The teenager had asked his Uncle as Aiko had observed Zuko's expression and looked at Iroh, who didn't seem like he had any good news to share.

"I'm afraid so. He's taking everyone." He had said as he then raised his arm, placing it over in his face. Both teenagers looked at him as she seemed to display a dramatic expression and tone, "Even the cook!"

Even though she wanted to smile, she didn't and looked back at the strange man. "Sorry you won't be there to watch me capture the Avatar. But I can't have you getting in my way again."

Zuko began to charge at him, ready to tackle the man down to the floor in a rage but Iroh had prevented it, blocking his nephew from moving further. Aiko's golden eyes continued to watch the man as he had walked over towards the wall, inspecting the curved broadswords that Zuko excelled in using.

He had taken one of the swords off the wall, inspecting it and even practicing with the sword with simple maneuvers. "I didn't know you were skilled with broadswords, Prince Zuko."

"I'm not. They're antiques. Just decorative." Zuko replied, which made Aiko look at him in question. Why did he lie? Was there a good reason?"

"Have you heard of the Blue Spirit, General Iroh?" asked the strangely villainous-like man.

"Just rumors. I don't think he is real." Iroh had answered.

"He's real all right. He's a criminal, an enemy of the Fire Nation." He hands the broad sword to Iroh, "But I have a feeling that justice will catch up with him soon." As he made his way towards the exit, he had finally noticed Aiko, who had looked at him with eyes that showed her disconcert towards him

He had looked at her with surprise and then puzzlement. "A girl on the ship?" He had then looked towards Zuko and Iroh, "What are you doing? Holding some prostitution ring? She's not that little girl that was Noblewoman's Bom daughter. No, that can't be. She died when the colony was burnt down. What was her name again?"

Zuko had grit his teeth, "Don't you dare say her name." He threatened the man, his eyes daunting him.

Aiko had felt uneasy and she felt her chest tighten from the mere mention of the woman's name. The ache was quick but it was heavy. "So it isn't her. She's dead as I figured… So you're just a whore for the Prince, aren't you?"

"I'm no whore." Aiko spat, "Don't you dare insinuate that."

The man's frown had deepened as he leaned close, "Do you know who you are talking to?"

The girl had smirked, "Do you think I care?"

"That's enough." Iroh said to her, warning her in her favor. The dark-haired female had set her jaw, her eyes still in a furious glare at the man before her. "Admiral Zhao, I believe that's enough out of you as well."

Zhao had closed his eyes, giving a stiff nod. "Yes, it would be beside myself to argue with a child. I'll be leaving with the crew." He had then turned towards Iroh, "General Iroh, the offer to join my mission stil stands if you change your mind."

With that said, he had walked out of the cabin and closed the door behind him. Aiko had sighed as she had looked towards Zuko who wore a defeat expression. "I'll give you some time to think of what we should do next and tell the others goodbye." He had left the room, leaving the teenagers inside.

"Aren't you going to leave too?" Zuko had asked her after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence.

Aiko had looked down at her feet before curling and uncurling her fists. "I…I suppose that's what I should do but I don't know where we are and… I definitely don't want to go with that piece of work." She said as the boy had glanced at her for a brief second. "Besides," a small smile appeared on her face, "I like hanging with your uncle, he's nice."

Of course, the main reason why she still was going to stay was because she needed to gather her memories. He was the key even though Zhao made her feel like he knew some of the answers as well. "Do whatever you want."

He had laid back down on his bed, his arms folded behind him and his legs crossed at the ankles. "Why did you lie about your swords to Admiral Zhao? Are you the Blue Spirit?" She had asked him.

"I'm not the Blue Spirit." He answered her quickly as if he didn't want to talk about the topic anymore.

She had bit down on her lip, chewing on it as she tried to think of what else to say. "You know," She had sighed just a little, "Sometimes I feel like I'm supposed to hate you but I'm not sure why I really don't." He didn't say anything and she decided to continue on, "All the Fire Nation really does is take away from people. They took lives, they took homes, and now you're trying to take the Avatar which is our only hope. You tried to take my life, my innocence, and my friends from me too but when I look at you, I can't seem to be angry and I don't know why."

Zuko, although quiet, was listening to her words and he could hear how she seemed to shift her weight onto the other foot, rub her arms as she thought and sigh every now and then. "And what do you want me to do about it?" He had said, "I'm not going to change how you feel. It's not my problem."

"I know…" Aiko had said quietly, "I'm not asking you to do anything I just wonder why I can't seem to hate you when I want to. Iroh's too kind for me to hate him, I tried but I couldn't… Maybe I'm just not the type of person to hate people. It's really hard… " The room had fallen silent once again and she could feel the uncomfortable, warm aura surrounding her. "But I'll—"

He had interrupted her, which had caught her by surprise. "You remind me of someone I knew." Aiko had looked at him, wondering if the person that she reminded him of was indeed herself. "She hated being in the Fire Nation because she said it made her father sad. He was always homesick, so she hated it and she hated what it did to her father in the past. But she loved the Fire Nation because of her mother and friends, so she felt conflicted."

His words had had made a sudden warmth flutter in her chest as she had closed her eyes, trying to see if she could remember anything about that. "She disliked my sister; despite all the things that my sister had did, she never hated he either. She had rough time hating people because she said she hated the way she felt when she hated people. I just told her she was too nice but she said I lacked compassion."

"What happened to her?" Aiko had asked, "That's the one Admiral Zhao had said she—"

"When she went back to the Fire Nation colonies in the Earth Kingdom, there was a small revolt. They burned the village down and killed all the Fire Nation people within the village. We never found her body or anything but it was only safe to assume that she was ashes."

It was in that moment that she had felt tears spring to her eyes, effortlessly falling down the corner of her eyes as she had gripped her shirt at the center of her chest. Her had ached and she wasn't sure if it was because it was sympathy or she was afraid that he was talking about her. She had tried best to hold back her sobs and to not let him noticed her verge of crying. She had tried to swallow it down and inhaled and exhaled quietly. "She sounded like she was… someone you knew dearly." Aiko forced herself to say, "I'm sorry for making you think about something like that."

"It was a long time ago. It doesn't bother me." He had nonchalantly put it, "She's dead. People die. That's all you acknowledge about life. No use in crying for the dead, it won't bring them back."

His brooding way of talking about the conversation didn't help. It just made her wonder if he had pushed away his memories in order for him to move on. "You're right." She simply said, not wanting to push the topic any further. "People die… that's a given."

"As long as you don't forget them and just remember when they were alive," Aiko's eyes had widened, "that's what adds worth to the memories."

"I won't bother you with any of my silly talking… I'll just… go to my cabin." And with that, she had quickly left out the room and went to her own room, pushing open the door and shutting it while her back rested against it. Her breathing had quickened as she had felt that overbearing sadness overwhelm her, her back sliding down against the door as she had buried her face in her hands.

The tears and the cries wouldn't stop no matter how much she had wanted them to. '_If…If that's me…Then my parents are dead. My home is gone… I have nothing to go back to… That I just ran away to find a dead end…'_ She had removed her hands, wiping her wet hands with her black tights as she had pulled her knees close to her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs as she had sat in a fetal position. _'Then that means Zuko is all I have left of my past… He's… He's the only person that knew me, that cared of me, that's still alive….' _

_'…Do I want that? Is it better that I just remain dead to him? That I just give up all that I was looking for? What's left to remember? My past is dead… I'm dead…'_

_"As long as you don't forget them and just remember when they were alive that's what adds worth to the memories."_

Aiko had heard Zuko's voice in her head and she had stared at the metal floor, nodding. She couldn't give up. She had to have all her memories back. She had to remember her mother and father and she had to remember who Zuko was to her. She couldn't just continue to forget them; that would just be selfish.

If she had told Zuko who she was then how would he react? Would he be angry or sad? Would he hate her for hiding that from him? If she had told him then he would surely tell her things about herself, she could learn everything. "He'll tell me all about my parents and all about what I loved and what I hated, just like he knew—"

She had heard something that seemed to be coming from outside. Her eyes shifted towards the small, circular window as she had seen something quickly zip by. "Uncle, is that you?" She had heard Zuko's voice from the corridor.

She had left her room and entered the hallway and felt an arm slither around her form, a hand pressed against her mouth as his lips had brushed against her ear. "Someone is on the ship."

Aiko had looked at him from the corner of her eyes, her heart racing as she had tried to calm herself down and listen carefully to what it was. He had let her go and they had both walked towards the bridge, both of them moving in fighting stances at every corner they encountered.

Her eyes then noticed what looked like a trail of gunpowder and it was on fire. Immediately, she knew there was going to be an explosion. Her eyes frantically looked to Zuko as she had wrapped her arms around him, pushing him right when the explosion happened. She had covered him as they had went out the bridge window from the force as the explosion ripped the vessel completely in the middle of the ship.

When they had landed in the water, Aiko began to panic due to the fact that she couldn't swim. Her arms had completely let go of Zuko's form as she was sinking deep in the dark, ocean waters. Her eyes were wide as she had looked to Zuko, who was trying to swim towards her. His hand had reached out for her as she had outstretched her arm towards him, but when the panic and her lungs filled with water, she had felt her consciousness fading.

He noticed how her eyes had slowly closed and after he pushed himself once more and coiled his arm around her body, bringing her close to him as he had begun to swim to the surface before the oxygen started to deplete from his body. When he made it towards the surface, he had searched for the docks and swam over to it, keeping his arms around her form in a good grip. He had climbed on the wooden dock and laid her down on her back.

In a hurry, he had pushed down on into her sternum and used mouth-to-mouth resuscitation as he had pinched her nostrils closed until the water in her lungs erupted from her lips and she had coughed up the water. Her eyes lazily looked over to him, her hands frantically moving towards him as she had used his shirt to pull herself up as she had wrapped her arms around him.

Surprised and unsure about her action, he had kept his arms hovering over her as she had heard her crying over his shoulder. He had hesitantly placed his arms around her as she had continued her cries until Iroh had found them.

* * *

**A/N:** Sorry this chapter was pretty short than how I usually write them. The next one will be longer since I think this one was meant to be short and sweet.


	6. Chapter 6: Aiko's Indecision

**Disclaimer:** I do not, I definitely do not, own Avatar: The Last Airbender or its characters.

* * *

Slowly, a pair of eyes had fluttered open with blurry vision. When the vision cleared after blinking several times, closing and squeezing her eyes shut and open, she could see that there that was a ceiling over her head, much to her surprise. She had sat up from her bed and notice lush, light green color of the blanket that covered her form. It appeared that she was in a shack from what she could tell but it didn't put her at ease one bit. "Zuko?" She had called out his name, "Iroh?" She had called out the retired general as she had climbed off the bed. Her legs felt weak; in fact, her body had felt extremely weak.

"Aiko?" Her eyes had immediately looked towards the door to see Zuko standing with what appeared to be a bowl of food; he had placed it on the low table in the middle of the shack and walked over to her, helping her to her feet.

She had looked up at him but then squeezed her eyes shut, groaning. "Put me down, please." He had helped her sit down at the pillow at the table. "What happened? Where are we?"

"You've been in a coma for three weeks." He had explained as she had opened her eyes, looking at him in shock.

Aiko had gasped in horror, "Three weeks?!" Zuko had nodded. He had then pushed the bowl of food towards her. It was porridge, which wasn't the most delicious meal in the world but it was what she needed to gather her strength. "I've must've been a burden…."

Zuko had noticed the sullen expression on her face, closing his eyes. "We were on a floating piece of driftwood for three weeks with no food or water; I say you were less of a burden."

Was that his way of trying to make her feel better? Her eyes then drifted down to her knees, now noticing the green robe that was on her form. Her eyes shifted toward Zuko, who was staring blankly at the table. "You seem to have a lot on your mind."

He had looked back towards her, "I'm fine."

"I can tell that you're lying." Aiko had pursued as he had appeared surprised. She was surprised herself that the words came out of her mouth, "Nevermind." She had quickly said as she had begun to eat the porridge, grimacing after each bite but forcing herself to eat while it was still warm.

His eyes had studied her for a few minutes before he closed his eyes. "Three years ago today I was banished." Her eyes became big as she listened on, she kept her eyes fixated on the porridge because she didn't want to see the dejected look on his face since it was already in his voice. "I lost it all…" Aiko had finally looked at him, seeing his expression turn determine. "I want it back. I want the Avatar, I want my honor, I want my throne. I want my father not to think…I'm worthless."

She didn't want to hear the rest, "Regardless if he does or not, you're not worthless." Zuko had glanced over at her as she had bit down on her bottom lip. "Nobody is worthless, especially the Prince of the Fire Nation." She had nodded as she had finished what was left in the bowl. "That… That was unsettling." She had groaned as she had pushed the bowl away from her.

"I'm surprised you ate it." He had said as she had shrugged her shoulders.

"Even though it was horrid, I needed it. I've learned to deal with things that I don't like because in the end, it'll help me somehow." Aiko had explained to him as she had wiped the corner of her mouth with a napkin, "I needed some strength and energy, I couldn't just not eat and expect myself not to be a nuisance to myself or you or—wait, where is Iroh?"

"He's getting a massage." Zuko had said, "He deserves it."

She had nodded and then turned to face him, "So what happened when I was in a coma? Did you find Aang?"

Zuko had sighed, "We followed the Avatar to the North Pole and then we escaped but Zhao, he went too far and destroyed the moon. Uncle said the princess of the tribe had the moon spirit in her and gave it back to the moon spirit, which brought the moon and balance back. The Avatar escaped again and Zhao,"

She had rose a brow, wondering why he seemed to be hesitant to tell her what happened the Fire Nation Admiral, "What? What happened to him?"

"I tried to save him but he slipped from my fingers and he—"

"I understand." Aiko quickly said, not wanting him to feel guilty. "You tried, that's all that matters."

He had nodded, "But he was the reason why my ship blew up. He was working some pirates and that's how he obtained that blasting jelly. He tried to kill me and I tried to save him still."

"Because you're not a killer." Aiko had said, "You're better than Admiral Zhao, don't ever think that what you did was wrong."

He had then given her a puzzled expression, "How do you know I'm not a killer? What if I'm just as bad as him?"

It was true, Aiko didn't know if Zuko had killed someone before. He could've but she just didn't want to believe that he was capable of doing that. He just tried to save his enemy, "Something just tells me that you're not that kind of person."

The Prince didn't bother to question it anymore and then stood, "Wait, where are you going?" Aiko had asked as she had tried to get herself on her feet, but her legs still felt like jelly as she had stood. She forced herself to stand despite the discomfort.

"I'm going to go see my Uncle, you need to stay here." He had said as she as she had shook her head.

"I'm not going to stay laying around in this shack all day and he should see that I'm better." Aiko had said as she had took a step forward, forcing herself not to wince.

Zuko could see the pain that she had tried to hide; it was obvious on her face. He had closed his eyes and shook his head. "Fine." He had said as he had walked towards the exit and she had struggled to follow behind him.

Between the walk towards Iroh's shack, she had massaged the muscle in her legs to loosen them since they would cramp up after a while. She had kneaded them carefully and made sure Zuko didn't have too many paces in front of her.

Occasionally, he would look back to see her as she had stretched out her muscles and massaged her legs. She would lift the green robe-like dress and revealed her skin, which would make him avert his gaze and keep the blood from rushing to his face.

When they had made it there, Aiko had walked over to Iroh who had given her a big smile. "You've awoken!"

Aiko had nodded her head, "Prince Zuko caught me up on everything."

"There's no use in calling me Prince Zuko anymore." Zuko had said as Aiko and Iroh both gave their full attention to him. "I'm not a Prince anymore."

Aiko had lowered her gaze as Iroh did so as well. Trying to change the atmosphere in the room, Iroh had walked to the middle of the room and emptied a bag of seashells on the table. He had picked up a few of them, a smile on his face as his eyes inspected each of them. "Look at these magnificent shells! I'll enjoy these keepsakes for years to come."

The dark-haired female had picked up one, observing the intricate design of the seashells. "Wow, they are beautiful."

"We don't need anymore useless things. You forget we have to carry everything ourselves now." Zuko had said to them, annoyed how his Uncle seemed to get that very important detail.

"Hello, brother. Uncle." The voice had caught them of guard but made all of them shift their eyes to the direction that the mysterious person had sat. It was a girl from Aiko's surprise and from what she said, she must've been Zuko's sister.

Her expression was distrusting in Aiko's eyes and from the indignant expression on both Zuko and even Iroh's face, her distrust for the Princess grew.

Zuko had taken a step forward towards his sister, "What are you doing here?" He questioned his voice somewhat castigating.

She behaved guilelessly, her eyes on the seashell that she had in her hand as she had toyed with it between her long, slender fingers. "In my country," She said arrogantly, "we exchange a pleasant 'hello' before asking questions." She had stood and walked over towards them, facing her sibling. "Have you become uncivilized so soon, Zuzu?"

The princess was about an inch taller than Aiko, who stood at 5'3''. She also had a very athletic frame with hair that was black as coal and her eyes were rustic shade of amber unlike Zuko's brighter ones. "Don't call me that!" Zuko furiously spat at his younger sister.

Iroh decided to not let the siblings bump heads, "To what do we owe this honor?" Iroh had asked his niece as Aiko watched the seashell in the girl's hand.

"Hmm... must be a family trait. Both of you so quick to get to the," She had shattered the beautiful seashell in her hand as she emphasized the last word at the end of her sentence, "point." The former freedom fighter had set her jaw as Iroh's expression had become dispirited. She had opened her mouth to speak but she had immediately closed it when her eyes were found on Aiko.

Immediately, Aiko had bowed. "Excuse me. I have other duties to attend to." She had said, knowing very well that whatever the Princess had to say wasn't for ears of people outside the family and the last thing she wanted to do was anger her.

She had waited, standing beside the door as she had pressed her back against the wall. She wondered what was being discussed but she assumed that it was nothing good. Nothing seemed good by the way the atmosphere in the room had gone cold in a room full of skilled firebenders.

It was about an hour when Azula had left, brushing her clothes scarcely before shifting her gaze to Aiko. "Do I know you? Your face seems familiar, and I'm not talking about when you were in the room with my brother and Uncle." Azula had questioned as Aiko had shaken her head.

"No, I'm sorry. I don't believe we have met any other time than today." Aiko had said as she had kept her eyes fixated on the Princess, making sure that she didn't seem suspicious or gave off the impression that she knew more than what she said.

The Princess had then fixated her gaze ahead. "I see." And with that, she had walked down the pathway and allowing Aiko to let out a sigh of relief. Her eyes had shifted towards the shack, wondering what Zuko and Iroh were speaking on. She decided that she would let them tell her what was spoken on their own, if they wanted to tell her anything.

She had struggled her way back to the shack that she had occupied, rubbing her legs as she could feel them cramping up and growing sore all over again. She knew she would regret forcing herself to walk but she also knew that she would be glad she did. Her legs needed exercise and she couldn't lay on them all day; no matter how much pain she had felt.

When she made it back, she had sat down and outstretched her right leg, kneading and massaging her right thigh and wincing while she did so. It had hurt and she notice the pain extended further than her legs, but her feet as well. Zuko had walked into her shack, his eyes fixated on her exposed leg and her eyes had immediately looked up at him.

Despite fighting the blush on his face, he had noticed the discomfort in her expression. He had sighed and then walked over towards the bed, grabbing a pillow and handed it to her. "Lay down."

"What?" Aiko had said, looking at him with a puzzled expression.

"I said lay down." He had repeated, "Don't make me repeat myself."

Irate from his attitude, she didn't press further and took the pillow and placed it under her head and laid down. He had then taken another pillow and placed them under her kneels. He knelt in front of her as she had pressed the robe down, trying not to expose anything other than her legs. If only she had her regular clothes on… "What are you doing?" She finally asked.

He had lifted her right leg, using his palm to stroke her toes and to the top of her legs. The strokes were long and his palm was soft as he had moved up her leg and down again—even going as far to go lightly over the knees. She had squeezed her eyes shut, enduring the pain but then relaxing when she understood that he was loosening the muscles in her legs. "If you don't properly massage them then you'll continue to be a nuisance to me." Aiko had opened her eyes frowning at his words. "Not just that, you'll need to be prepared for tomorrow."

"For tomorrow?" She had questioned, "What's tomorrow? We're leaving." She had sat up halfway as he was performing the same technique he had done to her right leg with her left.

"I'm going to the Fire Nation, my father wants me home." Aiko's eyes had became big as the surprise was stamped across her forehead in bold letters. "He needs me. He misses me."

It was that sense in longing in his voice that he made her heart clench. "Oh," She had uttered, "congratulations." What else could she say? If she questioned it, she would hurt him and possibly make him angry with her. "So we'll be parting ways tomorrow."

"Yeah." He had said as he had then rested her right ankle in his palm, massaging it with his left hand: one thumb on onside; fingers on the other. "You'll be able to reunite with the Avatar."

Aiko had nodded her hand understandingly as she had watched his fingers, how his eyes had paid attention to every movement he was doing. "I'm happy for you." Zuko had slowed down his actions and then shifted his gaze towards her face to meet her smile. His eyes had widened just a fraction, "I know how happy you must be that your father wants you back home. I would be really happy too."

A ghost of a smile appeared on his face as he had worked up her legs with her thumb and fingers, going softly over the knees but firmly on the thighs. It was embarrassing; strange but she couldn't help be grateful of his massage. "You'll be fine now." He had said as he had let go of her leg.

Aiko had completely sat up and stretched her leg, looking at her leg in wonder as the pain she was dealing with earlier. "Wow, it feels great!" She had said as she had let out a sigh of relief, "Now when I travel I won't have to take so many breaks."

The Prince had looked down at the floor, thinking about something apparently. She had tilted her head to the side as she wondered if he was going to say what was on his mind. "After all this time… He must've known it was the anniversary of my banishment." Her eyes had softened as she had pulled her knees to her chest, resting her chin between her knees as she had wrapped her arms around her legs. "He's been thinking about me; his only son. He trusts me still… He cares about me even when I thought I he never would again."

Aiko wanted to ask why he was banished but she figured that it wouldn't be right to ask him, especially when he seemed so happy that he was going to see his father and go home again. She had parted her lips slightly but then closed them again; she didn't want to kill his happy mood. "How does your Uncle feel? Is he happy going home?"

His expression changed, he had set his jaw and averted his gaze. "My Uncle is ungrateful and distrusting." She was surprised to hear the words come out of his mouth.

"What makes you say that? Isn't Iroh happy to see his brother again?" She questioned, unsure of what he meant.

"No!" Aiko had jumped at his voice, "He's lazy, mistrustful and shallow! He's just jealous of my father, he wanted to be Fire Lord but no, he didn't earn the title. He thinks he knows how my father feels about me and he doesn't!"

Her eyes had lowered as she had no put the pieces together. She knew that Zuko was angry and that's why he was insulting his Uncle, but she figure that Iroh didn't trust any of this and that's why he tried to warn Zuko. But he should've known how sensitive his nephew was about his father. "I'm sure Iroh's heart was in the right place."

The boy in front of her had glared at her and she was sure he was going to hurl and insult her way but he stopped he clenched his teeth, closing his eyes. "Yeah, maybe…" He didn't seem to sure but she could tell he wanted to believe that Iroh wasn't like anything he had said.

"You should get some sleep. You have a long journey tomorrow." Aiko said as Zuko nodded and stood, turning towards the door. He had looked back at her and she had given him a smile. He didn't say anything but left the shack. "Goodbye Zuko…" Aiko had muttered as she had felt tear slipping down the corner of her eyes, "again."

**/**

When morning had arrived, Aiko had returned to the clothes that Iroh had bought for her and packed up a few things that would help her during her travels. They had paid for her expenses so she didn't owe the spa anything. She had decided to leave early, she didn't want to run into them and prepare for a sad goodbye. It already made her unable to sleep at night but she promised herself that she wasn't going to depress herself with the subject anymore.

She had adjusted the strap of her backpack and left, following the trail outside the spa and followed the river. "Alright, now where do I go?" Aiko had questioned herself, "I guess I just follow the river and camp when it gets real dark if I can't find a place to stay." She had nodded at her plans, agreeing with them.

Her eyes had glanced around the forest floor, her eyes on the trees of many different shades of green. Her eyes then ventured to the sky, seeing how cloudless it was. She had ran her fingers through her hair and then wrapped her hands around her backpack straps as he had continued to walk forward.

"This was how things were supposed to be, right? I go my separate ways from them and then I return to Aang, right? I wonder how he is anyway." She had tilted her head back, squinting as the sunlight was trying to get into her eyes as she had paid attention to the blue, vast sky. "Sokka's probably annoying as usual and Katara is probably scolding him." She smiled, chuckling at the thought.

Her thoughts then shifted to Iroh and Zuko. "They're probably getting on the ship now. I bet Iroh is already asking the chef for the best roast duck! And Zuko is probably… probably so happy." Her happy smile had then changed to a sad one, the corner of her lips slowly dipping down. "He's happy because he'll be where he is supposed to be. And I miss them already…" Aiko had sighed as she had stopped walking and turned to look back, a part of her hoping that Iroh and Zuko were behind her.

"…Who am I kidding? I have to stop looking back." Aiko had shaken her head and continued moving forward. _"A piece of me will always be with you."_

She had stopped as she had looked across the river, her eyes widened at the scene before her. It was obvious that she was remembering something but it felt like she was seeing things from a faraway distance. It was her, a young version of herself that she had remembered with Zuko. She was handing him that red ribbon she had seen at Zuko's bedside. _"I'm moving and we won't see much of each other anymore. So, I'm giving this to you. So you'll never forget me and a piece of me will always be with you."_

_"But this is your favorite ribbon—"_

_"I know, but I think it'll be happier with you."_

He had hesitated taking the ribbon but she had tied it around his wrist lightly, making a makeshift bracelet. _"Take care of it and when you look at it, you'll remember me. Oh and send letters, and of course birthday presents!"_

Aiko had found herself smiling, _"Okay! I promise!"_

"So that was my ribbon he told me not to touch." Aiko had pouted, "I should take it back, it's not safe with him." She had looked over her shoulder and at the direction of where the spa was. "Tch…" She had sucked her teeth but then smiled. "Capital City, arya-sa! Capital city, arya-arya-arya-sa!" Aiko had sang as she had skipped forward, "Towards the Capital, towards the Capital, even the tree leaves and grass are blown by the wind. Is Capital such a nice place to live?" She sang as she continued forward. "To come, to come, you tell me but I cannot go there easi—"

"Aiko!"

The girl had frozen in place, slowly turning around to see Zuko and Iroh running towards her. "Iroh? Zuko?" She had slowly smiled as they had run towards her, she had met up with them halfway as they had panted heavily. "What happened? It's not even afternoon yet, you two should be out at—"

"It was a trap!" Zuko had shouted, Aiko had closed her eyes. "She…she lied to me."

Aiko had looked towards Iroh as he gave a nod to confirm, "She was going to take us back as prisoners."

"I'm glad you two managed to escape." She had said as she had noticed they had cut their ponytails. "If you guys aren't going back to the Fire Nation then where are you two going?"

Both Iroh and Zuko looked at one another, "We're enemies of the Earth Kingdom, and fugitives from the Fire Nation."

"If the Earth Kingdom discovers us, they'll have us killed." Zuko had mused.

"But if the Fire Nation discovers us, we'll be turned over to Azula." Iroh countered.

Aiko had looked at them both as they had nodded in agreement, "Earth Kingdom it is."

"Looks like we'll be traveling together a little while longer, Aiko, if you don't mind." Iroh had said as the girl had smiled.

"I don't mind at all." She had said as she had turned around and continued walking. "To come, to come, you tell me but I cannot go there easily. Capital city is away from here. From Capital, from Capital, I can reach Ember Island on the mainland by a rowing boat. But why and why cannot I reach your tender heart?"

Iroh had smiled at her song, "What song is that, Aiko?"

She had looked over shoulder, "I don't know but I always sing it whenever I'm alone and traveling. It makes me kinda happy."

"But Capital City, that's the Fire—" Iroh had shushed his nephew, who seemed to be more than just confused.

Aiko had looked back at him and then to Iroh's smiling face, "It's just I've heard that song before. Whenever the children of the Fire Nation colonies would return back to the Capital, their parents would say they had sung that song."

"Oh?" She had said as she had looked down at her feet, "I probably heard one of them singing it." She had said, "There were a few Fire Nation colonies where I grew up with my friends. So it's no wonder why I memorized the song." The teenage boy had pressed his brows together, still skeptical. He had looked up at his Uncle, who had watched Aiko as she had skipped forward. He was putting pieces together as well, it was clear.

"You don't think that maybe you're from the Fire Nation colonies, do you?" Iroh had asked as Aiko had stopped walking.

Aiko didn't want to tell the truth; she didn't want Zuko to know that she was the friend that he thought had died a long time ago. He had moved on already, he didn't need her back and it didn't matter anyway. Her past was dead. "Maybe, I don't recall it." She had answered, shrugging her shoulders.

The older man had nodded, "Your memories will come back to you; no need to force them."

"I know." Aiko had replied softly. "Capital City, arya-sa! Capital city, arya-arya-arya-sa! Towards the Capital, towards the Capital, even the tree leaves and grass are blown by the wind. Is Capital such a nice place to live?"

They had traveled for some time, leaving their path along the river and walking through the forest floor. Iroh had grown accustomed to the song and singing along Aiko. They had both merrily sang side by side much to Zuko's pleasure. He would glare at them, rolling his eyes, and even pinch the bridge of his nose as he was steadily getting another by their happiness and the song.

"We should make camp. It's getting pretty dark soon." Zuko had said as Aiko nodded her head and Iroh agreed.

She had then smiled at the two, "I'll go fishing. I'm pretty good at it." She said as she had looked at them, "You can guys can set camp."

"I'm going with you." Zuko had immediately said as Aiko had blinked a few times and then shrugged.

She had looked at Iroh, "Will you be okay setting camp, Iroh?" She had asked him and he had nodded his head.

"I'll be just fine. Gathering firewood is easy." He had given her a thumbs up and she had smiled.

"I'm sure lighting the fire will be easier." She noted as she had then waved, Zuko walking alongside side her as they had made their way to the river. She had dropped her backpack and rolled up her tights and tied the flaps of her skirt together.

"What are you doing?" Zuko had questioned as she had turned to look at him.

She had rose a brow, "Fishing." She answered simply.

"Without a fishing pole?" He had asked, "You're going to catch the fish with your bare hands?"

She had nodded in reply as she had taken off her shoes and stepped into the cold river. Aiko had shivered a bit, "You should get some rope ready so we can tie them together."

The Prince had rolled his eyes, "I'll make a fishing pole because—"

"Got one!" She had said as she had raised the flapping trout in her hand, a smile on her face.

He had blinked a few times and then sighed. He had gotten the string out of her backpack and walked over towards her, "How did you do that?"

Aiko had looked at him and then back at the river. "My friend taught it to me. You have to follow the river and then looked around and listen for fish; jumping or not. You find one that is trying to go upstream and then you shape your hands like this," She had demonstrated as her thumbs and pointer fingers had made a triangle, "since we're in the water, trying to make little ripples as possible, and then you slowly dip your hands in the water and move towards it real slow, separated your hands around the body of the fish and clamp your hands around it and ta da! You get to eat."

He had looked at her as she had pulled the second trout out of the water and handed it to him. "How long have you been living in a forest?" He had asked her as she had sighed.

"About… six years." She had answered honestly, "But I'm glad I did or else we would be starving."

"I could've caught the fish humanely, by a fishing pole." He had explained as she had felt offended by his words.

"Are you saying I caught it like an animal?!" Aiko had questioned.

He didn't seem like he was going to take back what he said. "You caught it like a bear."

Her eyes had widened slightly as she had then folded her arms, "What kind of thing is that to say after I'm helping us eat dinner?" She had snatched the trout of his hand, "You catch food on your fishing pole and I'll keep fishing like a grizzly!" She had huffed as she had turned away from him.

"Suit yourself!" He had stood away from her, picking up a stick as he had tied a piece of string on the pole and added a word as bait at the end. He had sat on a large boulder and threw the fishing pole string in the lake and waited, while Aiko continued to catch fish by hand.

As soon as night had fallen, they had returned to the camp. Zuko had a puny fish hanging off the tail of his fishing pole while Aiko grinned from ear to ear as she had revealed six fish tied together by string. "Wow, that's a lot of fish! We'll eat healthily tonight." Iroh had then looked at what his nephew caught, "Well… There's an extra."

His nephew had glared at him, "I can't live like this. I wasn't meant to be a fugitive." He kicked at the dirt beneath his feet, obviously frustrated. "This is impossible!"

Aiko had looked at him as she had begun placing sticks through the fish and setting them around the fire to cook. Her eyes had stared at the fire, "I can find some herbs if you need tea." She had told Iroh, "I'm pretty good when it comes to things like that."

The older man had smiled and nodded, "It's pretty dark. I'm not sure if you'll be able to see much of anything."

She had then looked towards a stick, willing to make a torch out of it. "I'll be fine." She said as she had lit the tip of the stick on fire and walked off into the forest.

"She's a survivor." Iroh had said as she had left their line of vision and then looked towards his nephew who was staring in the direction she had walked off to. "I know what you're thinking but Zuko, don't cling into that."

His nephew's eyes had then shifted towards him and then looked towards the fire. "But it makes sense."

"But if she isn't? You'll only be hurting yourself." His Uncle had warned, "There are many coincidences but a lot of them don't mean what you want it to."

"I know, Uncle." Zuko had said as he had poked the fire. He had then looked at his wrist, the ribbon still tied.

Iroh had smiled at his nephew wanly, "I'd like to believe that she is her as well. Aiko was a vibrant child and I know how much she had meant to you."

His nephew was silent for a few minutes as he had then looked in the direction that Aiko had gone once more. "I'm going to go find her." He had said as Iroh nodded understandingly. When he had seen the fire from the makeshift torch that Aiko had made, he had walked over to it and saw Aiko knelt down In front of a bush, her thumbs were sliding against the flat side of the leaves as her eyes were observing them. She had slowly looked up at Zuko, seeing the flame that was floating above his palm. "Did you find anything?"

"Mhm. I found some Oolong leaves." Aiko had said, "Does your Uncle like Oolong tea?"

"Yeah... but first," The Prince had nodded his head as he had knelt down beside her, "give me your wrist."

Aiko had looked at him with confusion, "Why?"

Instead of demanding her again, he had grabbed her right hand and looked at her wrist and there was a small scar shaped like an x. "Where did you get this scar?" He had asked her.

She had looked down at her wrist and then back up at him, "I don't remember."

He had met her eyes for a few minutes, silence filling the air between them briefly. "Why do I feel like you remember a lot more than you're letting on?"

She tried her best not to give away anything through her expression. Instead, she had stared back at him confused. "But I'm not…" She had shaken her head, "Why would I lie?"

Seeing how he couldn't counter that, he had pressed his lips together in a thin line and then closed his eyes. He had then stood and walked away from he as Aiko had looked at her wrist and then back to up to see Zuko's back as he had walked back towards the camp. _'…He's going to figure it out... How long can I keep lying before he puts all the pieces together?'_ She had thought as she had looked down at her the scar on her wrist. '_...He's more observant than I really took him for.'_

She had stood and kept the gathered tea leaves in her right hand, using her left to hold onto the torch. When she returned to camp, she had handed Iroh the tea leaves. "You can make Oolong tea, I'm sure this is enough for all of us."

Iroh had smiled, "I was going to die of dehydration if I didn't get some tea soon!" He had said as his nephew had rolled his eyes. Aiko had sat under a tree after grabbing a stick of fish.

She had ate silently as Zuko occasionally glanced over at her and then back at his own fish that he had eaten in silence as well.

**/**

They had left camp early in the morning and walked until they had found an Earth Kingdom village. The sun was shining down heavily on them and Aiko had enjoyed the sun on her skin. "I was becoming really pale; at least I'll get a tan now." She had said as she had shielded the sun form her eyes using her hand.

"I think you have a lovely complexion, Aiko." Iroh had complimented her, which made her smile.

"Thanks Iroh, but I like a little color on my skin." She had said, "Living in the forest kinda took the color off me." She had said as she had looked down at her skin and continued to walk forward.

They had walked over a bridge over the stream, she had stood and looked down the stream and it instantly reminded her of the Fire Nation. A wave of nostalgia had washed over her as Zuko had turned back to see her standing at the bridge in thought.

Zuko had walked over towards her, "What are you doing?" He queried.

She had looked at him and then smiled, "I just like looking at streams from the bridge." She had shrugged her shoulders, lying once again. "It makes me feel nostalgic."

His brows had furrowed at her words but he decided not to question, "Let's go."

She had nodded and followed him and they had found Iroh in the village, with a straw mat on the floor. They had placed down things that they were willing to sell for some coins. She had sat on the straw mat next to Zuko as Iroh held his hat out to the pedestrian, "Spare coins for weary travelers?"

The man was kind enough to throw a few copper coins into the hat, much to Aiko's surprise that there was already coin in there. Zuko had looked at his Uncle, already infuriated. "This is humiliating! We're royalty. These people should be giving us whatever we want."

"They will—if you ask nicely." His Uncle replied which did not satiate his nephew's anger.

"Spare change for a hungry old man?" Iroh said in a weak voice, surprising Aiko at how he was acting.

The woman was well-dressed, probably rich or middle class herself. "Aww," the woman cooed as she had taken a sleeve from her coin and placed it gently in the hat, "there you go."

"The coin is appreciated, but not as much as your smile." Aiko smiled as Zuko had slapped his palm against his forehead out of obvious frustration. The woman had giggled and walked away from him.

Aiko then stood, "I'll find some more ways for us to make some money." She had said but before she walked away.

Aiko had walked around the village, looking for hiring signs. "Mm, I could get a steady job or do odd jobs." She had thought out loud as she had looked around, "Which one will do?"

"If you're looking for an easy job, you should work for us." A woman had said, causing Aiko to look over to her and eye her in awe. The woman was wrapped in a green cheongsam that was embroidered with gold waves at the hem and sleeves. It had revealed her tall and willowy body and made her look exquisite. She looked mature because of the pipe she had smoked, which made Aiko's awe continue to blossom.

She had already captured Aiko's interest right away. "An easy job? Does it involve commitment?"

The woman had shaken her head, "You can work as long as you like." The woman had said softly, Aiko had smiled.

"I'll take it." She had agreed, not even knowing what the job was. She just knew it must've paid well and what they had needed right now was money. "Can I start tonight?" She had asked and the woman had nodded in reply.

"Just meet me at The Shadow Willow at eight." The beautiful woman had instructed as Aiko had nodded and watched her walk down the street, men gaping at her as she had walked with an unmatchable strut.

Immediately returning to Zuko and Iroh, she had given them a big smile. "I got a short-time job that'll get us right on our feet and coins slipping through our fingers."

Iroh had beamed, "That's great news! Instead of spending what we have earned, we'll take rest in that cave we found before we entered the village."

Aiko had nodded as Zuko had kept his gaze fixated away from the two. She had looked at him, wondering why he was silent but decided not to bother. "I don't have work until eight. If there's anything you need me to do until then, I'll be happy to assist."

"We're fine." Iroh had said, "Right Zuko?"

His nephew had eyed him, his expression still baring anger and frustration. "No, we're not fine."

* * *

**A/N:**


	7. Chapter 7: The Truth

**Disclaimer:** I do not, I definitely do not, own Avatar: The Last Airbender or its characters.

* * *

Her eyes had scanned around the village as she had walked alongside Zuko. There was a bag of food in her hands that would last them for a couple of days. "Iroh sure worked hard for these, hm?" She had said to Zuko, who continued to look forward without so much as glancing at her. Aiko had pouted as he had ignored her and shifted her gaze down towards her feet. They continued to walk forward until she had noticed that he had left her side. She blinked a few times as she had noticed him standing in front of a store. She had walked over towards him as his eyes were observing a sword that was on display. "Um, Zuko?"

He had snapped out his gaze and turned to look at her. "We should be going towards your job—"

"You looked happy." She interrupted his sentence, his brow arched as he had a confused expression. She had stood next to him and gazed at the sword that he was looking at. "A sword? Is it finely made?"

"It's a Fire Nation sword." He had said, "It was made by a sword school in the Capital. Nobody makes better swords than them. There are many excellent swordsmiths in the Capital, my grandfather made sure of that. This one is particularly was made by one of the best in the school." Aiko had looked up at him as he had explained, "When you think about excellent swordsmiths, you have to think about those who surpassed the teacher." Aiko had chuckled, which had caught him off guard. "What's so funny?" He asked, now annoyed.

"That's not it!" She had raised her hands, waving them.

"Then what?" He asked.

She had fiddled with the ends of her hair. "Ah, well.. I was thinking that you really like swords, not just broadswords."

His expression had softened some. "The blades themselves are fascinating, but there is a hidden meaning to them."

"A hidden meaning?" She repeated, unsure of what he meant.

He had looked back at the sword, she did as well. "A sword is used to take the life of your enemy, and that's it. The existence of the sword is simple. Clear."

Her eyes had softened at what he said and she had closed her eyes. "The human life is complicated while the owner of the blade's existence is unsure."

Zuko had then walked away, "Let's go." He had said as she had nodded and quickly caught up to him, walking alongside him.

Her eyes had looked through the buildings for a sign of the place. "Here it is! The Shadow Willow." She had pointed at the place and then turned to look at Zuko.

The Prince had looked at the building skeptically. "What are you going to do here?"

"I don't know." Aiko had answered, "I just know a beautiful lady told me to come here and work, and that is an easy job!"

"So you don't even know what you'll be doing?!" The concern in his voice had surprised her and even caused her to smile.

Aiko had then smiled, "Are you worried about me?"

He had scoffed, "Why would I be worried about you? How are you going to do a job well if you don't know what you'll be doing?"

"I'll just learn as I go; simple as that." She had shrugged. "You go on, I have to go inside. I can't be late." She had said as she had turned and walked towards the open door that had flaps as doors. "I probably won't be back until late but I'll be fine. Get some rest."

He didn't say anything as he had watched her go in. He had looked back at the sign of the place and then turned back and head his way back towards the cave.

**/**

"So I'm just a waitress?" Aiko had said as she had looked up at the woman that she had met earlier in the day, her lips being painted a bright shade of red. She was placed in a similar cheongsam like the woman, whose name she found out today was Bo Na. Her outfit was a flame-red with swirls in lacquered thread.

"All you have to do is serving and look pretty, that's it." Bo Na had said as she had applied small amounts of blush on the girl's cheekbones.

Aiko had nodded as she had pressed the tip of her toes together with her shoes. "Does my hair have to be down like this, I never wear my hair down."

Bo Na had chuckled, "Men here love to see women with long hair and when it is pushed back, it really brings out the shape of your face." The woman had fiddled with Aiko's fringe. "All eyes will be on you, and that'll mean bigger tips."

Aiko had nodded, "You really think I have a nice-shaped face?" She questioned shyly, pressing her hand to her cheek.

"It is a beautiful heart-shape." Bo Na complimented, "Most girls will be jealous. Too round face because they have picked up some weight. Be proud of your frame." She had insisted, which made the young girl smile even brighter. "Now go on." She had patted Aiko's back, urging her to move.

She had received the tray with a single bottle of wine that was sitting at the bar top. She had glanced around to see more beautiful women like Bo Na, but they were more extravagantly dressed. Their figure wasn't shown like hers but you could tell how slim they were. Their makeup was light to show off their beauty but to not over exaggerate it. "You new here?"

The golden-eyed girl had looked towards the girl with bright, lime green eyes. "Oh, yes. I won't be working here for long but I need the pay." She had said as the girl had nodded. She seemed to be the same age as Aiko, though she was taller; roughly about 5'6''.

"I see. Well, we'll be busy tonight due to it being the weekend. I hope you get many tips." The girl had bowed and left, leaving Aiko a little bit more comfortable than she was before. She had picked up the tray and looks towards the bar tender.

"Take this to floor two, room 3." He had said, "Serve the drinks until they have had enough." He had ordered as Aiko had nodded.

She had walked up the stairs as she could hear the hearty laughs of men and the giggles of beautiful women. She had walked up to the send floor and when down the hall towards the third room, she had place the tray down and knelt down, opening the door to see the room filled with men and the girl she had just met a few minutes ago.

Everyone had turned to notice her as she had performed a small bow and picked up the tray, walking towards the man that didn't have any wine. She had assumed right as he pushed his cup towards her and she had opened the bottle and poured him a drink.

The man wasn't particularly handsome as he had his hair pulled into a high ponytail and wore Fire Nation clothing. Her eyes had widened as she had noticed that they were all soldiers of different ranks, sitting in there. Aiko immediately felt uncomfortable, her expression already showing how uncomfortable she was. "Something wrong?" She assumed it was leader of soldiers that had sat in the middle in front of them all.

"I-It's nothing." She had stuttered, which made the men shift their focus from her and back at their conversation.

"Those meddlesome children will regret what they did," One soldier had stood with a drunken blush on his face, walking across the room, "the Fire Nation will take Ba Sing Se! "

The soldier next to her then spoke, Aiko's face showing her discomfort still. "If we do it and we succeed, we'd get a great award for our accomplishment by Fire Lord Ozai." He had then turned to look at her, leaning close to her. She had looked shocked, eyes wide and mouth open, "Especially you. Have you decided on a future husband?"

The girl had shaken her head. The man was about a year or two older than her, relatively young but he still was a Fire Nation soldier. "Eh?" She had looked away, flustered. "Ah, no."

He had then reached for her wrist, grabbing it as she had held the bottle of wine in her hands. "How about it? If you'd like to become my mistress, you should take this chance."

"M-Mistress?" Aiko had repeated, "You're already married?"

"Yes, but I don't like my wife and she's not as beautiful as you." He had said, her eyes looking down at his hand as she had set her jaw.

"Eh? No, I'm going to decline." She had ripped her wrist out of his grasp and turned away from him.

The man had grinned, "How innocent."

"Uhm…" She had to get out of there before things had gone sour. "The bottle…" She quickly thought. "The bottle is empty." Aiko had stood with the bottle in her hand, "I'm going to get you a new one." She started to leave the room. Now that she was out in the hallway, she had let out a sigh of relief as she had stood there to gather her thought.

The man she had served had then walked in, surprising her. "Hey, did you wait long?" Aiko had blinked several times. She had taken a few steps back, "So, this is when they pretend to hate what they like?" Aiko couldn't believe he had the gull to believe that, but she quickly moved down the hall and went right to realize she went the wrong way and it was a dead end. She had turned around, pressing her back against the wall as she had gripped the bottle tightly in her hand. "What's wrong? You're not running anymore?"

It seemed like she had no other choice but to fight. Suddenly, the ceiling had broken and in front of her was a person wearing nothing but black, but on their face was a mask. It was the mask of the Blue Spirit, her eyes had widened in shock.

"Who the hell are you?" The drunken man had asked, growing infuriated. "What's with that weird mask? Who are you? Too much of a coward to show your face?" The Blue Spirit was silent and looked over his shoulder to observe Aiko for a few minutes. "It doesn't matter anyway! Hand her over!" He ran forward, but Zuko had kneed the man in the stomach and pulled Aiko, running down the hall.

Aiko had observed the broadswords on his back, her eyes narrowing as she had observed them. She had then remembered Admiral Zhao:

_"Have you heard of the Blue Spirit, General Iroh?" _

_"Just rumors. I don't think he is real."_

_"He's real all right. He's a criminal, an enemy of the Fire Nation, but I have a feeling that justice will catch up with him soon." _

Could it be..? No, there was no way that the Blue Spirit was— He had opened the room and pulled her in, pressing her close as he had pressed his back to the door and listen in. He had heard running pass the door, which mad Aiko sigh of relief. She had then looked up at the masked person and then raised her hand, just to have her wrist grasped. "You should get out of here." Aiko had warned him.

On the other side of the room was another door, in which the man was standing there at the opened sliding doors. "There you are." Aiko's eyes had widened as the masked person had stood in front of her. "Now, come here. The game's over."

The Blue Spirit had picked up the tatami mat beneath them and flipped it, hitting the man on the face and kicking him out of the room. The drunken man had fallen flat on his back, groaning.

Aiko had looked at him as he had motioned for her to run, she had shaken her head. She didn't want to leave him by himself and he knew that she was getting too stubborn. He had then grabbed her arm and they had ran down the stairs, not meeting any of the Fire Nation soldiers as of yet.

They had made it downstairs and then went a different way out, he had continued to pull her far away to make sure that none of the soldiers would follow them. After when it felt like they made it far away enough, he had then turned to her. She had looked at him questioningly, "Thank you for saving me, Blue Spirit."

Of course, she received no reply and so instead she had hugged him. Aiko knew very well that it was Zuko but for his sake—because it was what he wanted—she decided to act like she didn't know it was him. "I'll be able to see some friends of mine again because of you." She he said as she had then pulled away from him and bowed slightly.

He had stood there for a few minutes and bowed in return before disappearing off into the night. She had tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and then waited a few more minutes before making her way back to the cave.

When she had walked in, Iroh had greeted her with a smile. "Aiko!" He said, "You're back earlier than I expected, but you look beautiful!"

She had bowed slightly and smiled, "Thank you. Work was pretty rough." She had said, "But I don't think I'll be working there again. It isn't the right job for me." Her eyes had shifted to Zuko, who was leaning against the cave wall.

He was already dressed back in his normal clothes. It was like he was here all this time. "Ah, I see. Are you hungry?" He asked and she had shaken her head.

"I just want to rest." She had went to the far end of the cave and laid day in her sleeping mat, closing her eyes after a few seconds before falling asleep.

**/**

Aiko had woken up that morning, feeling as though she was being carried. Her eyes had slowly opened, peeking over the shoulder that she was laying on. She had looked at Iroh, who was carrying her. "I-Iroh!" She had called his name out in surprise, "What's going—"

"Zuko left." He had said simply, "And we're following him."

Still confused, she had then patted his shoulder to signal for him to put her down. Iroh had knelt down, letting her on her feet. "Why did he leave?" She finally asked, "Did you guys argue?"

"No," Iroh had shaken his head, "he wanted to spend time to find his own way."

Aiko had looked down at her feet, wondering why he wanted to go his own way. "I see. Well, let's go before we lose him."

She had walked alongside Iroh confidently as she had wiped the makeup off her face. "If you don't mind me asking, what happened last night?"

Her eyes had shifted from the smudged makeup on her hands and then to Iroh, who offered her a canteen of water for her to wipe her face, she had poured some of the water over her head and rubbed in her face. As the water had dripped down her face, she had blinked a few times and sighed. "I was a waitress and poured drinks," she had said, "but one man tried to make me his mistress and he was persistent."

Iroh had nodded understandingly, "You fought your way out?"

"No, I was saved by someone." She had said truthfully, "The Blue Spirit saved me." She had said as her hair started to curl from being drenched and she had pulled it back into the usual ponytail.

"The Blue Spirit, huh?" The man had smiled and she had caught it but pretended to not know that Zuko was indeed the Blue Spirit. "I see."

"Iroh," She had called out to him. He had let out an "hm?" so that she would know that he was listening. "I have something important to tell you, and I need your advice on it. But please, don't tell Zuko. You have to promise me."

His expression had become serious as he had gave a firm nod. "I promise."

She had stopped walking, inhaling and then exhaling. "I'm…" She had frozen, feeling afraid to admit what she was going to say, "I'm…I'm the Aiko that Zuko back in the Fire Nation, the one who had supposedly died in the colonies. I have some of my memories back, not all…but…" Iroh's eyes had widened at her confession, but he had waited patiently for her to finish what she had to say, "But I don't want anyone to know. I'm only telling you because I don't know what to do…"

"Why won't you tell Zuko? He would be thrilled if he—"

"What if I don't get all my memories back?" She had then said, feeling her eyes well up with tears. "He'll look at me, wanting to remember memories that were precious to the both of us and I don't remember them. I'm just someone that he doesn't know anymore. And he had grieved for the old Aiko, he had let her go… What right do I have to dig this all back up? To hurt him all over again because I can't remember his favorite color or what games we used to play or—"

He had placed his hands on her shoulders, "You two are not children anymore." He had said as she had looked up at him. "I understand. You're not the same person you were because you have lost your memories, you have grown, and you became a different Aiko. You're not the same girl that Zuko had met, knew, and befriended."

Aiko had sniffled as she had set her jaw. "And so I don't have the right to be in his life because he grew with—"

"No." Iroh had cut her off, shaking his head. "That means you rebuild a new friendship with and without memories. You can't change the past Aiko, you can only fix what's in front of you."

Her eyes had looked down towards the ground beneath them as the tears kept spilling down her eyes. "You're right but… I'm just afraid that he'll look at me… and just see a shell of who I once was."

"But isn't that better than him looking at you and thinking that you're someone that's not alive?" Iroh had asked as she had nodded, trying to choke back her sobs. He had pulled her in close for a hug as she had cried on his shoulder. "I understand your pain. I know you did not ask for all this."

"Thank you for understanding… I've been carrying al this weight and I wasn't sure how to lighten it." Aiko had pulled away from him and wiped her eyes with the back of her hands.

The former general had smiled, "When we reunite with Zuko, will you tell him?"

She had looked up at Iroh and then nodded, "He has the right to know." She had then shook her head, "Let's keep going." With a nod, they had continued their way towards the mountains. "Iroh, did you know my parents?"

The man had hummed and gave a nod, "I knew your mother for she was a noblewoman." He had said, "She was a really beautiful woman. Her name was Bom, she was just about a few years younger than my brother; Fire Lord Ozai." He had said, "She was feared in the Academy, she was a person who got into my fights but always seemed to smile at the end of them."

Aiko had smiled as he had explained as she had remembered how her mother looked in the memory she had when she had first met Zuko. "Did she and Fire Lord Ozai know each other?"

"Yes," he had said, "they were friends. They fought a lot during childhood because Ozai would pick on her, and she didn't care if he was a prince or not and would fight back. My father, Azulon, would always scold Ozai for being rough with a girl, and our mother Ilah would constantly praise Bom's boldness."

The dark-haired girl had then asked another question, "What about my father?"

"I don't know much about your father but I do know that he was a hardworking man. He was a swordsmith and worked in a sword school in the Capital, which was the reason why they met. He was from Ba Sing Se he would always say. He was handpicked by Fire Lord Ozai because of his exceptional sword making, he was the best in the school."

Her eyes had widened as she had remembered Zuko speaking about the school yesterday afternoon. _"This one is particularly was made by one of the best ones in the school." _She had remembered Zuko staying that, she had even stood still. "We have to go back to that village, Iroh. There was a sword there that was made by my father. Zuko even pointed it out!"

Iroh had sighed, "We already too far and if we waste more time than Zuko will be—"

"He'll have to rest and I'm sure we can make it by then. I'll be back, Iroh." She had turned away and began to run, trying to make her way towards the village that they were in. She wasn't sure how she was going to pay for the sword but she had to have it. It was a piece of her father that she would never have again since he was dead.

It had taken her quite some time until she had reached the village, she heavily as she had ran a little more towards the way of the shop. "I've got to find it, where is it?" She had said to herself as she had looked around until she found the shop. She had went up to the display and sighed of relief as she had noticed that the sword was still there.

She had heard some commotion. "Hey! Outta the way! You got a couple Fire Nation soldiers comin' through here!" Her eyes had widened as she had turned to look, it was the same rather unpleasant-looking men that she had seen last night. They were making their way in her general direction, yelling, threatening, and generally intimidating anyone unfortunate enough to cross their path.

"Hey! You deaf?! I told you to move!" Another man had said. He had tossed a poorly-aimed kick at a child playing in the street.

"Stop—!" Aiko had barely taken a single step toward them, when—

"Desist, you hooligans." Aiko didn't see where she'd come from, but a girl had ran out to place herself between the soldiers and the child.

The face had seemed all too remember, and the voice as well. "Was this? You think _you_ can tell _us_ what to do, Lady?! Ha! Some broad wants to pick a fight with us?!"

The man obviously short fuse had been lit. He had made a grab for the girl and missed. Aiko suspected that his nek attack wouldn't be quite so inaccurate.

Aiko couldn't let that happen.

And so she had ran forward, placing herself between the girl and child and the soldiers. "Another broad?"

Flecks of spit flew from his mouth as he had roared at her, but Aiko was already gritting her teeth and trying to restrain her anger. "I'm no broad!" Aiko had spat, not liking their derogatory language." She was committed. She couldn't and wouldn't run. "Why do you abuse women and children? Is it because they aren't from the same country?" She had asked, "Is that a Fire Nation custom? Aren't soldiers supposed to protect common people, not attack them! But I guess if they aren't Fire Nation then they aren't people."

"What did you say?!" The man had grown angrier.

"That's right! You tell him!" One of the commoners surrounded them had said.

Another one had rooted for her as well. "How'dya like that, ya damn Fire Nation! Soldiers, my ass! Get outta my village!"

Something about Aiko's speech seemed to have struck a chord with the crowd that had begun to gather. With cheers, her legs had even more than their usual steadiness. "You bitch!" The soldier had held a flame in his hand, which made Aiko's eyes widened.

She did not fear them, but she fought better against fire with a sword than she had with just her hands. She could try to dodge, but if she did, he might hit the girl when her actions had intended to protect.

Suddenly, a sword was thrown through the air and Aiko had seen it and caught it. It was her father's sword. Her eyes had widened as she had pulled the sword out of the scabbard, letting out a hiss of metal. She had used the back of her sword to hit the side of the man's head, making him fall to his knees and grabbed onto his unprotected head. "Urgh… You… bit—"

Aiko had then ran, making the soldiers follow her and leave the girl and the child alone.

Suddenly a bunch of men had surrounded them and Bo Na had stood in front of the line of men. "Did we teach you a lesson last night about respecting women?" She has asked them, Aiko's eyes widening upon the sight of her. "Go on." She had shooed Aiko, telling her to leave. The dark-haired girl had bowed, thankful of her help and ran towards the exit of the village.

When she had made it far into the outskirts, she had looked at the sword in her hand and held it tightly, pressing her forehead against the scabbard of the sword. "I…I got you."

******/ Flashback /**  


_"Papa," Aiko had called out to her father, who was sitting at his desk in his office. He had looked towards a young Aiko with a small smile on his face. "What are you doing?"_

_"Writing some things down." He had answered her as she had walked over to him and climbed up the chair and onto his lap. She had looked at the scroll that he was writing on. "Forever curious, aren't you?" He had used his right hand to rub her head since he had wrote with his left._

_She had then tilted her head back to look up at him, "What are you writing?" She had asked._

_"About what I want to do for your sixteenth birthday." He had answered her, "It's a long time but Papa likes to be prepared because your mother is so reckless and doesn't write any plans down."_

_Aiko had giggled as she had leaned back on her father's chest. "Are they presents you're writing me?"_

_"Something like that." He had said with a smile, "Papa made something very special for his daughter and when she gets it, he hopes that she'll be very happy."_

_"Anything Papa makes, makes Aiko happy." She said matter-of-factly, which made him chuckle. "When Papa taught her how to fight, she was happy. When Papa taught her how to use her first sword, she was happy. When Papa tells her stories, she's happy. Aiko is always happy with Papa, and Mama too."_

_He had pressed his lips to the back of her head, "And nothing makes Papa happier than a happy Aiko."_

******/ End Flashback /**  


Aiko had fought back tears as she had remembered that brief flashback of her father. "I got to pull it together; I have to hurry and make it back to Iroh."

When she had made it back to the mountain, she didn't see Iroh anywhere around. She was worried if he had left without her or worse, something horrible had happened. She had gone down the rocky mountain carefully, going by the occasional tree that would appear every now and then. As she had went down, she had smelled smoke. She sniffed the air a couple of times and then saw a trail; she had followed it and saw Iroh sitting around a campfire with a young girl with Earth Kingdom clothes. "Who's there?!" The girl had immediately stood, assuming a stance.

"She's the girl I was just telling you about, Aiko." Iroh had motioned for Aiko to join them as she had approached them. He had handed her a cup of tea, in which Aiko had taken once she had placed her sword down.

Aiko had then finally asked. "How did you get here?" She had asked the girl, who had strange eyes. They were an extremely pale shade of green. They were beautiful even but she knew that there was something different about them.

"Are you saying I look like I don't belong out here because I can't handle being by myself?" The girl had barked, making Aiko blink a few times from how irate this girl seemed to be.

"I wasn't thinking that." Aiko had said, "I just wanted to know why you were out here."

"Oh…" The girl had then said, "Sorry about that then."

"It's no big deal." The former Freedom Fighter had shrugged it off. "I'm going to travel a little ways ahead." She had said as she had went forward but was stopped by Iroh.

"We were just about to leave ourselves, right?" Iroh had asked young girl, who had nodded as well. Aiko had sipped her tea until they made their way to what appeared to be a small, deserted town. Her eyes had looked around until she had seen what appeared to be Zuko running into a building.

"What's going on?" Aiko had wondered, confused.

"Aiko!" Her head had swiveled to the direction of the voice, and was greeted by a giant warm hug. She was then pulled back, to get the full face of Sokka.

Her eyes had lit up as a smile appeared on her face, "Sokka!"

"Now isn't the time for a reunion, we have to help Aang." He had grabbed her wrist and pulled her forward, making her jump head's first into the battle that was ensuing.

That's when she noticed that it was Zuko's sister who was running down an alley, she had ran into Iroh's round and large stomach, bouncing off as she had appeared confused. Everyone; Zuko, Iroh, herself, Sokka, Katara, the Earth Kingdom girl, and Aang had closed in on Azula, who was now backed into a corner of a burnt building.

"Well, look at this. Enemies and traitors all working together. I'm done." The Fire Nation Princess had said, raising her arms in a sign of surrender. "I know when I'm beaten. You got me. A princess surrenders with honor."

It was hard to soak in that they were all fighting together to stop her, all of them being allies. It was sudden when a street of blue fire had fire out of the tip of her fingers and hit Iroh scare in the chest, she had immediately ran towards him while the others had simultaneously benders had fired at Azula, who made a shield of fire, and caused an explosion.

Aiko had run towards Iroh, kneeling down towards him with sad eyes. Zuko had run over and was the other side of him; Zuko had clenched his fist and grit his teeth, Aiko looking up to see the strong wave of anger in his eyes and actions.

Katara and the others had tried to approach Iroh, Aiko's bottom lip trembling as her worry for Iroh grew. He had groaned softly, which gave her a sign that he was alive. "Get away from us!" Her head snapped up to Zuko as he had yelled at the group.

The waterbender had placed one hand over her heart and outstretched the other hand, "Zuko, I can help!"

The former Prince then raised his hand, which worried Aiko as she had grabbed his wrist but a wave of fire still unleashed but waved over their heads. "Leave!" He screamed at them before looking to Aiko, who had stared back at him.

Aang and Katara had given each other a worried look and then looked towards Aiko. "Go!" She had told them, "Hurry! Go!" She had continued on as Sokka frowned. She had gave them a weak smile as they had turned to leave, taking off in the bison.

"Hopefully there are on medicinal herbs in the mountains. We have to take him somewhere safe." She had said as Zuko had lifted one of Iroh's arms around his shoulder and hoisted the man up, Aiko had taken his other side as they had began to walk, silently for a place for Iroh to rest.

It took a few hours until they had found an old, decrepit building up in the mountains. They had found a room with a cot for him to rest in and laid him down. Aiko had sighed as she had then made her way outside, "Where are you going?" Zuko had questioned.

"I'm going to look for some medicinal herbs to treat his wound. We can't leave him like that." She had said as Zuko had nodded understandingly before looking back at Iroh.

As she looked around the place, she had searched for a familiar plant that could help with burns. She had blinked a few times as she had cautiously made her way down the mountain. "Aloe vera usually works…" She had hummed.

She had then heard footsteps and saw that it was Zuko with an worn out pot. He didn't say anything and walked past her, she had decided not to speak either and continue to look around for the needed medicine.

When she had returned, Aiko had changed back to her old clothing as she had used the red cheongsam when cleaned and dressed Iroh's wound. She had spent most of her time in the center of the main room of the shack, around the fire that Zuko had lit as he had made some tea. He had silently offered her a cup and she had forced herself to drink it because it had tasted terrible. She didn't want to hurt his feelings or more like re-anger him while he was fretting over Iroh's condition.

Her eyes would occasionally wander to Zuko, only able to see his back since the door of the room was open and she could see him sitting beside Iroh. She knew now wasn't the time to confess who she was, but she had hoped that she would be able to soon because the more she looked at him, the guiltier she had felt.

Hopefully Iroh would awake tomorrow at the least, or they would have to fear for his condition even more. She had continued to force herself to drink the tea that Zuko had made. She had looked back up at Zuko to see him adjusted the blankets on Iroh's form.

Her eyes had then went back to her sword, holding it in her hands as she had looked at the black scabbard that had designs of spiderlilies on them. She had always loved spiderlilies as far back as she could recently remember.

She had then felt what felt like engraving, she had then looked down towards the edge of the scabbard. "Toyotama…" She had read. It must've been the name of the sword. Aiko had then slowly pulled the sword out of the scabbard and looked at the carving in the blade, which had a name: Jisoo, which she assumed was her father's name. And then it said something else: "For my beloved daughter, Aiko."

A smile had formed on her face as she had closed the sword and rested it on her lab, her thumb brushing against the smooth scabbard. _'I'll make you proud Papa.'_

**/**

Aiko hadn't realized that she had fell asleep in the middle of the shack's main room. She had looked around and then at the room that Iroh resided in. She had seen that he was gone and nobody was in the shack. She had stood up, noticing the blanket that had fallen to the floor. She had then heard was sounded like chatter not too far from the distance of the broken window. She had looked out to see Zuko and Iroh speaking not too far.

She was glad to see that he was awake, but why was he moving like he wasn't struck in the chest? They were doing some type of technique together. She had watched with curious eyes until they had stopped and Zuko bowed, putting his hands together.

Iroh didn't seem all too thrilled by what was going on, and it resulted in an argument. Aiko had then finally decide to go out and ran towards Iroh, her sword now in the sword belt on her side. "I'm glad to see you up and at it, but aren't you doing too much?" She had warned him.

"I'm fine and lazing around won't help me heal." He had said with a smile before looking off in the direction his nephew had gone.

"Where he go?" She had asked Iroh, "Did he leave again?"

The man had shaken his head, "No. He needs to let some things out." He had said as she had wondered what he meant by that. She had then went towards the direction that Zuko had went, carefully going down the mountains and across a lake.

She had caught him enough to see that he had went up a mountain and she had decided to wait down the base of the mountain. Rain began to pour and lightning was off in the distance. She had grown worried, wondering why he wasn't climbing down the mountain.

She didn't care that she was getting drenched from the rain. Her hair and clothe, clinging onto her as she waited for Zuko to return. Aiko then wondered if now was the right time to confess to him, but when she had heard the scream from the mountain top, she had decided that now wasn't the time. After a few minutes, he had returned from the mountain

He had looked surprised to see her standing there and walked over to her. "What are you doing standing out here in the pouring rain?" He questioned.

Aiko's eyes had met his, "I could ask you the same thing."

"You're going to get sick." He had said.

"You too." She replied back, knowing that she was grating his nerves. "But I was worried about you."

Her bluntness had caught him off guard as he had looked at her questioningly. "Why would you be worried?"

"You can be a bit… reckless at times." She had admitted, "And I just wanted to know if you'll be okay. And you are, so I don't have to worry anymore."

"Why do you always worry about me? You need to worry about yourself. You should've left with the Avatar when you have a chance. There's no reason for you to keep traveling with Iroh and I, you're not even a hostage anymore." He had said as he had walked past her, she had bit down her lip.

"Well…" Zuko had stopped walking to hear what she had to say, "It's because of you two, that I somewhat know who I am."

He had looked over his shoulder and then fully turned to look at her, "What do you mean?"

"My name is Aiko, and I was born in the Fire Nation to Jisoo and Bom." Aiko had said as Zuko's eyes had widened. "When I was about six, I got lost and couldn't find my parents. And a boy, son of the then Prince Ozai had helped me find my parents and we became friends afterwards." She wasn't sure why she had felt like crying, but she still managed to smile while doing so. "Before I moved to the colonies, I gave him something very special to me. It was my favorite ribbon so that he wouldn't forget me... It looks like after all these years he held his end of the promise."

* * *

**A/N: **Aiko's sword is name after Toyotama-hime, her name means "luminous jewel" but she is more better known as Otohime. She is a goddess in Japanese mythology. She was the beautiful daughter of Ryujin, the God of the Sea. She married a hunter name Hoori and gave birth to a son, who had made the first Emperor of Japan named Emperor Jimmu. After giving birth, she turned into a dragon and flew away.


	8. Chapter 8: The Road to Ba Sing Se

**Disclaimer:** I do not, I definitely do not, own Avatar: The Last Airbender or its characters.

* * *

They had stood there for about an hour in the pouring rain, staring at each other. Aiko wasn't sure how Zuko felt after she had told him the truth. Did he believe her? Was he angry at her? She didn't know, he just stood there in shock. Her hands had caught him curl his fist, and so she assumed the worst but then it uncurled. He had taken a few steps towards her and she had stood there, wondering what he was going to say or do.

But what happened she didn't expect. Suddenly, his arms were around her.

"Aiko…" He had whispered in her ear, not on purposely but due to their height differences; his mouth was close to her ear as she could barely peek over his shoulder. "I just had to make sure you were really here." His arms enfolded her body in their surprisingly tender, gentle embrace. She could feel his heart beating beneath his chest, and when he spoke, his voice trembled just the slightest bit.

In all honesty, she couldn't imagine Zuko ever being gentle but she imagined that this was what younger Zuko would've wanted to do. She felt like her heart was about to break, but she had felt… happy.. But what more could she say to him? "Zuko.." It felt right in his embrace. It felt like… it was home. Nothing felt more like a home than the embrace she was in right now.

Part of her was worried that he would hear her heart racing, or notice her face had flushed a brilliant shade of red, but another part of her didn't care. "After all these years…" He sounded bewildered and almost a little scared. She had even felt his arms squeeze tighter.

Aiko was in fact happy that he was holding her; that he treated her so kindly when he was the Blue Spirit and now; that he was opening up this softer side to her like he had.

At last his arms pulled away, and for a quick second he had smiled down at her softly. She had tilted her head back to look at him, rain soaking them through and through. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Her eyes had widened slightly but then she had looked down.

"I didn't know… if telling you was the right thing." She had said honestly. "I was scared that… that what if you would look at me and see that I'm not the same Aiko as before. I've changed; my memories aren't all back to me just yet, and all the things that you and I shared before is still gone and there's a chance I'll never get them back."

He hadn't said anything and instead, he had turned away from her. "We better hurry back before we get sick." Aiko had reached out to stop him but he had already turned and walked further away.

One step forward, three steps back." Aiko had muttered under her breath as she had watched Zuko get farther away.

She had dragged her feet as she had made her way back to the rundown shack. Iroh was surprised to see the duo arrived, but was even more surprised to see Aiko's eyes red from obvious tears. He had looked to Zuko, who hadn't said anything and just simply found a room and shut the door.

"You'll have to change. You'll get sick if you stay in those clothes." Iroh had said as she had nodded her head understandingly. "There should be some clothes in the dresser but I'm not sure if they'll fit…"

"I understand." Aiko had said with a small smile and went inside, looking through the dresser of the clothes that were inside. They were baggy and dingy, but it was better than staying in her soaked clothes.

After changing, she had sat down in the room and looked at her sword. "…If only I had something of Mama." She had whispered as she had looked away from the sword and then looked at the door of the room. She had thought briefly about Zuko's embrace, which made her feel giddy.

She had looked back at the sword in her hand, holding it tightly. "Maybe one day, I'll remember everything…" Aiko had said as she had closed her eyes, letting out a sigh. "I just have to be patient."

**/**

They had left the shack in the mountain to travel again, going their way to Ba Sing Se. Ever since she had told Zuko who she was, he hadn't spoken to her and she decided that she would be patient until he wanted to talk about it or at least talk to her again. They had boarded a ship that would take them to Ba Sing Se, a boat for refugees at most. Aiko had looked out at the water on the deck, she had walked away from Zuko and Iroh for some space since she felt uncomfortable of how Zuko had ignored her. It was then when she had stared out in the water that she had remembered something…

******/ Flashback /**

_"I don't want to go to the colonies! Why are we going, Mama? Why do I get to lose my friends, tell grandma and grandpa goodbye, and go to a place I don't know?"_

_Her mother had knelt down on the deck, her hands resting on her daughter's small shoulders. Aiko's eyes were red and puffy from the nonstop crying since she had said her goodbyes at the docks. "I know. It's going to be hard, but don't you want to see your Papa happy?"_

_Her daughter had looked down in guilt, "Of course… I want Papa to be happy."_

_"Papa wants to be near home, and then you'll get to meet his parents; your other grandpa and grandma." Bom said, trying to console her daughter. "And then you can make more friends and gain new experiences. We'll visit the Fire Nation, you'll see Prince Zuko again. I promise."_

_Aiko still wasn't happy and it didn't matter how much her mother tried to butter up the situation, it just didn't ease the pain of leaving the place she had grown up in. "…I still don't like it. I'll never like it!" _

_Bom's frown had deepened as Aiko had ran away from her, leaving her to sigh as she was left alone on the deck._

******/ End Flashback /**

"I was selfish…" Aiko had said as she had leaned against the rail, holding up her chin with her palm.

She had then saw Zuko who had stood next to her, his eyes gazing out at the ocean. She had looked at him with surprise. "Zu—" He had given her a look of warning, which made her remember the names that both he and Iroh made up to hide their identities. "Lee…" She had corrected herself, "what are you doing here?"

"Uncle was worried about you." Her heart had stung at his words but she had kept her expression as normal, and pain free as possible.

"Sorry I made him worry…" She apologized, shifting her gaze back out into the ocean. She had then gently pushed herself off the rail and began to walk away, just to have him grab onto her forearm.

Aiko had looked back at Zuko, wondering why he had stopped her. She had looked at him, giving him her full attention. "Curly?" Her eyes had grown big and wide; that voice. Her head had slowly turned to her left as she had seen...

"Jet…" She had uttered his name, both of them staring at each other in surprise. Zuko's grip on her arm had tightened and then loosened before he eventually let go as he had then moved to stand beside her. He had observed the two who seemed like they were stuck in time, their eyes solely focused on one another.

The golden-eyed girl was the first to break her shocked expression and then furrowed her brows, her eyes glazing over with anger as she had narrowed her eyes. Jet's expression had softened as he had given her a small smile, "I come in peace." He raised his arms in surrender.

"You and peace? That's a joke." Aiko had said as she had averted her gaze from him, clenching her teeth.

"What I did was a mistake, Curly. I've learned from it." He had said as she had looked at him skeptically.

She had then folded her arms and kept her eyes averted, "I can't believe you. I _won't_ believe you."

Zuko had watched silently, his eyes focused on Jet as the leader of the Freedom Fighters had taken a step forward towards Aiko. Zuko had then placed his arm in front of her, catching her by surprise and causing her to look up at him curiously. "I think you should leave." He had warned Jet, who had looked at him.

"She and I are old friends; we go _way_ back." He tried to smooth out the situation, like he always did. "You shouldn't butt into other people's affairs."

"She and I are also old friends; we too go _way_ back, and she is my business." Zuko had said, "If she doesn't want to talk to you then leave—"

"It's fine, Lee. I don't need you to protect me." Aiko had said as Zuko had looked at her, but she had kept her eyes on Jet who chewed on the stalk of prairie grass in between his teeth with a smirk.

He had then held out his hand to Zuko, "I believe we got on the wrong foot, Lee." He had said as Zuko had looked down at his hand, Aiko stared at it as well.

Jet had stood there, with his hand still outstretched, and watched as Zuko or "Lee" displayed his distrust for him right off the bat. He had lowered his hand, giving an understanding nod. "Curly," He had shifted his focus back on her, "Smellerbee and Longshot are with me."

"Where are the others?" She finally asked, "The Duke, Pipsqueak—"

He had shifted his gaze, "They left. We somewhat... disbanded."

It made her sad but she was relieved that they weren't still working under Jet after what he had tried to accomplish. Maybe they went off to do better things. "I'm sure they would be glad to see you again Curly."

Her heart tightened at her nickname, the name that she had kept for those years. It almost felt odd hearing it again after leaving it behind along with her past with them. "Don't call me that. I'm not Curly anymore; my real name is Aiko, so call me that." Aiko had kept her gaze away from Jet.

He had frowned slightly, "I guess things will never be the same, huh?"

"No… They won't." She retorted, "You tried to kill innocent people Jet. You almost wiped out a whole village."

He had curled his hand into a fist but then uncurled it as he used his hand to gesture as he had spoken, "I was bent on revenge, Curly. I wasn't the only one who hated the Fire Nation to the core. I wasn't the only one who was glad to see one die!"

Zuko had shifted his gaze to Aiko as she had stood there wide-eyed, her eyes lowering as she had remembered that feeling of regret mixed with satisfaction when Jet killed that soldier for her. "…It's different Jet. You can't blame everyone for what happened to you, just like I can't blame the whole Fire Nation for those few soldiers."

He had sighed, knowing that he wasn't going to get through to her. Aiko didn't easily fall into his charms or more like his charm was broken when she found out the plan to wipe the valley.

"They were going to make you a prostitute. You hated them; you inwardly wanted them to die." Jet had continued on, "Don't act like you were holier than thou, Cur—Aiko." He had corrected himself, "You knew the Fire Nation took my parents from me; you knew what they took from most of us."

Aiko had felt her bottom lip quiver as she had shut her eyes, "But Jet… Not everyone is like that. Not all of them are coldblooded killers and cruel..." Zuko had looked at her and then at Jet. It was apparent that Aiko was still fighting her hatred for the Fire Nation like she had years ago_. "Sometimes I feel like I'm supposed to hate you but I'm not sure why I really don't. All the Fire Nation really does is take away from people. They took lives, they took homes, and now you're trying to take the Avatar, which is our only hope. You tried to take my life, my innocence, and my friends from me too but when I look at you, I can't seem to be angry and I don't know why."_

His expression had softened as the tears had rolled down her cheeks, she had clenched her fists as she had stood there, shaking in anger. "You hated them like I did. Like we all did. You _still_ do." Jet had continued on.

Her eyes had tears spilling out of them as she had looked at him; she had then bit down on her lip. Aiko hated hating the Fire Nation because it meant hating her family, Zuko and Iroh, and it meant hating part of who she was. There was things she loved in it, but the war… The war made her want to hate it. "You don't know how I feel about anything Jet."

The leader of the Freedom Fighters had then bit down on the stalk of prairie grass. "Don't tell me, you sympathize with them? After all that's happen, you're giving them the benefit of the doubt?!"

Aiko had closed her eyes, tears still roaming down her face that had felt like it was on fire. "I do… Because I met some really nice Fire Nation people along the way. So… I can't hate them even if I wanted to."

He looked at her in disbelief. He had then closed his eyes and looked away, disgusted and feeling that wave of betrayal washing over him again. "I don't know if you're too kind… or you're just oblivious to the way the world is and how cruel they are."

"You can say I'm both." Aiko had said as she had wiped her tears with the back of her wrist. Iroh had slowly approached him, behind him was Smellerbee and Longshot.

"Curly?" Smellerbee's eyes had lit up on the sight of the girl, but Aiko was still hesitant. It wasn't a reunion; or at least it wasn't a good one.

Her eyes then shifted toward Longshot, who communicated with her silently but mainly with his eyes. He had apologized for the way things had ended between her and the group, which had made her somewhat smile. "You know them?" Iroh had asked her.

She had nodded her head, "Yeah…I was with them for some time." Aiko had said as she had looked to Jet, who had his eyes fixated on everything else but her.

Smellerbee had then looked to Jet, "Did you tell them about our plan?"

"What plan?" Zuko had asked, looking at them skeptically.

Jet had looked at Aiko, who had looked back at him. "I heard the Captain's eatin' like a king, while us refugees fee off his scraps. It's not fair, is it?"

"What sort of "King" is he eating like?" Iroh queried, bringing a sense of lightness in the tense atmosphere.

"The fat, happy kind." Jet answered, which made Iroh's mouth gape open with drool leaving his mouth. "So, are you gonna help us "liberate" some food?"

Aiko didn't trust Jet, and from what she could tell Zuko didn't either because of the first impression he was given. Zuko had looked to her as if wondering if she would do it. She had looked back at him, clearly having some doubts but… "Okay."

"I'm in." Zuko had said afterwards.

Jet had then walked away, "We strike at moonlight."

Smellerbee and Longshot had followed behind him as Aiko had let out a sigh of relief to be out of his presence. "I'm sorry." She had apologized to Iroh and Zuko, she had then looked to Zuko. "That must've been uncomfortable."

"I'm fine." Zuko had said, "But are you?"

She was surprised at his concern and then slowly smiled, "Yeah… I'm fine."

Iroh had looked at the two, confused as to what was happening. "I'm a little lost here."

Both teenagers had looked at Iroh and then decided to drop the conversation about the prairie chewing boy. "It's nothing." Zuko had said as Aiko had turned away from them and leaned over the rail. The sun was going to set soon.

When the sun had slowly sunk into the horizon and the moon had joined the starry sky, she and Zuko had met up with Jet and the rest of what was left of the Freedom Fighters. "I think I'm going to stay behind with Mushi..." Aiko had said, "but Lee, you go."

He had looked at her as she had pleaded to him with her eyes. He had looked at her for a few seconds and then nodded. She had given him a wave as they had made their way to the upper deck. She had walked towards Iroh and sat beside him, "I'm drained…"

"You're not going with them?" He questioned as she had shook her head. "I suppose it is the Jet boy. You've been uncomfortable since you've seen him." Iroh had watched as she had rubbed her hands against her face continuously.

"…Jet and I used to be in this group called the Freedom Fighters. We were rebels, I guess you can say. We rebelled against the Fire Nation." She had explained, "Jet was the one who saved me from the soldiers that were going to put me in the prostitution-ring like I told you before… He even killed one of them to save me. "

Iroh had nodded, "So you two are very close."

"We _were_…" She had mumbled, "…Everything went south so quickly…"

He had watched Aiko looked off into the distance with a disconsolate expression. "I'm assuming that you two didn't agree on something…"

Her eyes had looked back to Iroh and she had given a nod, "He wanted to wipe a valley from Fire Nation soldiers and people. He was going to flood the village and everyone in it. I worked against him with the Avatar, well.. With his friend, Sokka."

"The watertribe boy?"

Aiko had nodded, "I don't…I don't want to kill anyone. I never want to kill people… I hate fighting." She had continued to rub her face until she had just rested her hands against her face with no movements. "…This war has me so conflicted; I want to hate but I can't. I can't find it in me to hate anything…"

"That's because your parents raised you to be that way." Iroh had smiled as she had looked up at him, "Bom was treated badly for falling in love with your father. Your father was perceived to hate her because she was Fire Nation, but your father never looked at her with hatred. Your mother never looked at him like he was less. Hate cannot drive out hate and when we hate, we end up hating ourselves."

Her eyes softened as she had smiled at the love that had blossomed between her parents. "My mother sacrificed everything to be with him and my father had lost everything to meet her."

Iroh had nodded. "Love is sacrifice."

"I still don't understand love at all, at least most of it." The young girl had said honestly as she had rested her chin on the palm of her right hand as it was propped up by her knee.

"You may not understand it or get any closer to it, but your heart follows it. Your heart knows it." He had explained as she had looked up to see Zuko returning with them, handing the sack of food to Jet after passing food to Iroh, for himself, and for Aiko.

Aiko had ate in silence as Smellerbee had joined them, which she figured Jet and Longshot would as well. Longshot was the second to join them. "So, Smellerbee, that's an unusual name for a young man."

The golden-eyed female nearly chocked on her food while Smellerbee looked vexed, "Maybe it's because I'm not a man. I'm a girl!" She had glared at the former general before rising and walked away.

"Oh, now I see! It's a beautiful name for a lovely girl!" He said after her, grimacing at how he had made such a mistake.

Longshot had then quickly stood and followed after her. Jet had joined, "From what I heard, people eat like this every night In Ba Sing Se. I can't wait to set my eyes on that giant wall." He said, eager and hopeful.

It was the first time in a very long time Aiko had ever seen Jet behave that way. She had looked at him, studying the expression. "It is a magnificent sight." Iroh had then added, stealing her attention.

"So you've been there before?" Jet queried.

"Once, when I was a different man." He had said dejectedly, which made Aiko wonder if he had something to do back when the days he was a general for the Fire Nation army. There was much regret in his voice and expression.

Jet's eyes then looked to Aiko as he had spoke, she had looked at him briefly before looking down at her food. "I've done some things in my past that I'm not proud of. But that's why I'm going to Ba Sing Se, for a new beginning. A second chance."

Zuko's gaze shifted to Aiko, who was trying her best not to look at Jet or anyone for that matter. "That's very noble of you. I believe people can change their lives if they want to. I believe in second chances." Iroh had looked to his nephew, whose gaze was focused on the sword-wielding girl while Jet studied Zuko's expression before looking to Aiko.

**/**

It was early morning, the mist was strong and you could barely see anything. Aiko stood at the prow as she was just about able to see the shoreline in the distance. She had heard footsteps, which made her look to her right to see that it was Zuko. "Had a good rest?" She had asked and he had gave a nod in reply. "We're almost at Ba Sing Se." She said, still trying to keep the conversation flowing.

"If Jet asks you to leave, are you going to go with him?" Her eyes had widened slightly as she had continued to look at him. His amber eyes had then met hers.

Was he really worried about that? "No." She answered truthfully,"I don't trust him…I'll never trust him again."

"But you believed him when he said he wanted a second chance." Zuko had said as she had kept her eyes lowered, biting down on her bottom lip. "And you don't hate him."

She had nodded, "That chapter in my life is over. Curly is gone." Aiko had said, "Jet and I will never return how we used to be and he knows it. He and I walk two different paths… He hates how I've changed."

The Prince had looked away from her and then looked towards the approaching shoreline. "I know I've been distant for a while. I needed time to think."

"You were angry at me, weren't you?" She had asked him, "You were angry for how long I kept everything a secret. I understand, I didn't blame you for needing time away from me. It's going to be weird between us because… we've changed."

"No, you haven't changed at all." Zuko had looked at her, "I have." She had looked at him quizzically, "I mean, you're not as hot-headed as you were before."

"What do you mean I'm not as hot-headed?" Aiko had asked.

He had leaned against the rail, "You and my sister used to fight all the time." He had said, "And whenever I made you mad, you used to hit me. I let you hit me though. Boys can't hit girls." The dark-haired girl had narrowed her eyes and slapped his arm. "Ow!" He yelped, rubbing his arm where she had hit. "What was that for?!"

"Don't look at me like I'm some weak, fragile thing because I'm a girl! You fight me just like anybody else!" She had hissed at him as he had looked at her if she was crazy.

He had then furrowed his brows, "This is exactly what I meant!"

"You deserved it!" Aiko had huffed, folding her arms and turning her back to him.

The smile on Zuko's face was microscopic as he had looked at her but it vanished when she had turned to look at him, glowering at him. "Shouldn't I be looking at you like that after you hit me?"

She had fought not to smile but ended up doing so, "If that what it means to teach you to respect me then I'll hit you more often, kay?"

"That doesn't mean that I won't try to hit back now that you told me not to treat you like a girl." He had said as she had looked at him with a challenging gaze.

"Tch, if that means we'll go one-on-one then I don't mind!" Aiko had raised her fists playfully, "I'll beat you to a pulp."

"You seem a little too confident." He replied, indulging in her childishness.

Her eyes then looked right, Zuko following her gaze to see Jet approaching them. "Don't mind me." Jet had said as he had raised his hands, "I just came by to talk."

"What do you want Jet?" Aiko had asked, "Want to "liberate" something else?"

He had smirked and then shook his head, "I wanted to ask you and your friend if you guys would join the Freedom Fighters." He had then looked to Zuko, "You know, as soon as I saw your scar, I knew exactly who you were." Both and Aiko and Zuko gave Jet a wary expression, "You're an outcast, like me. And us outcasts have to stick together. We have to watch each other's backs, because no one else will."

"I'm not joining the Freedom Fighters again and neither is Lee," Aiko answered for them both. "Just forget it."

Zuko had then spoke, grimly. "I've realized lately, that being on your own isn't always the best path. And I already have someone to watch my back, he has since I was born." He had then looked to Aiko, "I'm going to look for Uncle."

Aiko's face had softened as she had nodded while Zuko had looked away before she had turned to look to Jet. "Leave us alone."

"You're telling me that after all that we've been through, you're just going to throw it all away? What about the people we saved? Being a Freedom Fighter was everything to us."

"It _was_, Jet. Was. Not anymore." Aiko sighed, "Because being a Freedom Fighter doesn't mean we protect the freedom of everyone, just certain people."

Jet had chewed on his lip, "So that's it?"

"You made this happen, Jet. I would've still been with the Freedom Fighters if you hadn't been so warped up in vengeance. And you kept it a secret too, you lied. Jet, we were best friends and you kept things from me. You manipulated us; you manipulated Aang and Katara, you used Katara's feelings—"

He had closed his eyes, "You were jealous, that's why."

Her eyes had widened as she then set her jaw, "Jealous? I told you—"

"Smellerbee told me. You had feelings for me, you did for a while." Aiko had averted her gaze towards the floor of the deck. "You were against me ever since you saw I had interest in Katara."

"That's not true, Jet." She shook her head, "It's true. I did have feelings for you Jet. You protected me, you saved me, and I had looked up to you. I did care about you, a lot… But I don't anymore."

"It's because you're in love with Lee now." Jets aid as she had looked at him dumbfounded.

"I'm not in love with Lee, Jet." She corrected him, "Lee is someone very important to me. I knew Lee when I was young; a child."

The Freedom Fighter leader had then gave her a confused expression, "So you got your memories back?"

She had nodded in reply, "Some but not all of them…"

"So that's what he meant." Jet had now put the pieces together, "Still, it's not Lee is just a friend to you."

Aiko had scoffed, "Why do you care anyway?"

"Because even though we're not on friendly terms, I still care about you Curl-Aiko." He answered truthfully, making her sigh.

"It would be easier if you didn't." She had turned away from him, walking in the direction that Zuko had went to find Iroh. When she had met up with them, the Ferry had arrived at the Ferry Landing, and they had went to the ticket gate.

When they had reached the front of the line, Aiko tried her best not to stare at the large, hairy mole on the woman's face. She was unattractive and her attitude was less than welcoming. She had stared at their papers dubiously, sniffing every now and then. Aiko had looked up to Zuko, who stood there without so much of a pleased expression. "So, Mr. Lee, Ms. Aiko, and Mr… umm Mushy, is it?" She had asked, her attitude was still less than delighted.

"It's pronounced Moo-shee." Iroh had corrected her politely.

The woman didn't take his politeness as respectful, "You telling me how to do my job?" She had asked as she had raised her eyes from the paper and at him in a heated gaze.

Iroh took a step closer, both teenagers looking at him curiously. "Uh, no no no." He had then placed his charming persona, "But may I just say you're like a flower in bloom, your beauty intoxicating."

Aiko and Zuko's eyes both bulged out with their mouths forming a disgusted frown. "You're pretty easy on the eyes yourself handsome." The woman had said, obviously falling for the charm and the over-exaggerated compliment. Her hands were then raised in a cat-claw like gesture, "Raow~ Welcome to Ba Sing Se." She had stamped their papers and pushed them forward.

"…What was that?" Aiko had questioned, unsure if she wanted to vomit or not.

Zuko had snatched both his and Aiko's paper from Iroh's hand, "I'm gonna forget I saw that." He had handed Aiko her paper as she had nodded, trying to hold in her disgust and try to forget what had happened as they stepped past the ticket gate.

When they had reached the debarkation point for Ba Sing Se, which was a very large train station made of stone, Aiko had observed the people that roamed in groups with many people bearing smiles. Happy that they had made it into the city; they had came here for a better life.

Aiko had sat in between Zuko and Iroh as they were at the waiting area, she had kicked her feet back and forth on the ground. "I can't wait to actually be in the city." She said as she looked to Iroh, "It's my Pa's home so I wonder just how great it is like he had bragged."

Iroh smiled, "It is beautiful; I can tell you that."

She nodded, "I guess being here will be like being a part of his world; kind of. I doubt I'll ever find where he lived though… But I can try."

"You should. Maybe you'll find family members." He said to her as she had nodded her head happily.

"I don't know if my grandparents are still alive but I'd like to find them." Aiko had smiled at the thought, "To me my dad's parents…"

"I know your mothers parents are still alive." Aiko's eyes had widened as she had looked at Iroh with surprise, "When Zuko and I had left the Fire Nation, she had made me some fresh baked cookies!"

The girl chuckled at Iroh's giddiness, "They were good?"

"Good? They were great!" He had said, "Your grandfather and I were in the army together. He's a very serious man but he's great at Pai Sho, probably where you got your natural talent of it from. Your mother, she hated the game."

Zuko had looked at Aiko as her face was lit up with happiness, "My mom had a hard time staying still, huh?"

"Very much so. But she was young and carefree, which was natural." He had nodded his head.

Aiko had then sighed, "If I ever go to the Fire Nation, I'll have to see them too."

"So, you guys got plans once you're inside the city?" The expression on Aiko's face had gone sour as she had looked to her left to see Jet casually sitting next to Zuko.

"Get your hot tea here! Finest tea in Ba Sing Se!" A tea peddler announced, all four of them looking up at the tea merchant that was pushing a cart full of tea in front of them.

Iroh waved his arm eagerly, "Oh! Jasmine, please." The peddler had poured tea into Iroh's bowl before walking away. The former general had happily taken a sip from the bowl, just for his eyes to bugle out. "Blaugh!" Aiko had jumped as Iroh had spat the tea out in disgust, "Ugh…Coldest tea in Ba Sing Se is more like it. What a disgrace!"

Aiko chuckled before looking back to Jet and Zuko, he obviously wasn't interested in talking to her but more to Zuko. "Hey, can I talk to you for a second?" He had asked him, gesturing for him to follow him.

Zuko had then risen from his seat much to his reluctance and sighed, Aiko had then grabbed his hand. "You don't have to go." She said to him as he had nodded.

"He'll listen if I tell him no directly." Zuko had said as she had let go of his hand and watched him walked away with Jet away from where she and Iroh sat.

Her eyes looked towards Iroh, "Sorry the tea was bad."

"It's not bad, it's just cold. But I can fix that." He had whispered with a wink.

At first, Aiko didn't understand what he meant by that until she realized he was going to heat the cup using his firebending by warming his hands. Steam was now rising from the cup, her eyes had widened, "Mushi, I don't think that's a good ide—"

Zuko had dashed towards them took the cup, spilling the tea onto the floor from Iroh's hand. "Hey!" Iroh had yelped, surprise.

His nephew then whispered through his gritted teeth, "What are you doing firebending your tea?! For a whise old man, that was a pretty stupid move."

"Don't be too harsh." Aiko tried to comfort the distraught Iroh, "He didn't think anyone would notice." She whispered.

Iroh mourned over his tea, "I know you're not supposed to cry over spilled tea, but…" He sniffled sadly, "that's so sad."

* * *

**A/N: **This chapter came out a little earlier than I expected!


	9. Chapter 9: The Rivarly

**Disclaimer:** I do not, I definitely do not, own Avatar: The Last Airbender or its characters.

* * *

It took them a day to get settled in the city as they had enough money to get a small apartment in the lower-ring. Aiko was busy doing her research to find her father's parents even though she had only his first name to go by. It was difficult but she didn't plan to give up. Meanwhile, they were currently shopping for groceries while Iroh dibbled and dabbled on some unnecessary things such as décor. Aiko didn't mind but nephew didn't like the idea that his uncle wanted to spend money on such frivolous things.

"Hm…" Aiko hummed as she had looked at this particularly painting. She had folded her arms as she had tried to find the meaning of the portrait but she couldn't seem to find it.

Zuko had then walked over to her, looking at her with confusion. "What are you doing?" He asked.

"Trying to find out what this painting means." Aiko answered, her eyes then glancing over to him briefly before looking back at the painting. "I might want to buy it but I don't want to buy it and end up not liking it."

"So if you knew the meaning of the painting then you would buy it? So based on the meaning of it will be based on whether you buy it?" He broke down her odd thought process and which she had nodded since he summed it up. "That sounds unreasonably complicated."

Her bottom lip had poked out in a pout, "I always wanted to be avant-garde." She said truthfully, "I mean I don't really have any artistic skills except for Bagua, which is art in itself. But it doesn't really break the cultural realm or push any norms."

He had given her an expression that she knew expressed how he felt. He found her odd, peculiar and looking and trying for unnecessary things. "We don't need to spend money on decorations, we need to be spending it on things we need."

What he said was right. They didn't have money in the first place. "Right…" She had sighed, "we don't even have jobs yet."

"Are you two ready?" Iroh had asked them, making them both turn to look at them. Both their eyes went to the light tan vase, nearing the color of beige. There were designs near the top and at the bottom. In the vase were several flowers of the bright shade of orange. They didn't say anything to Iroh but left the shop, walking in the streets of the lower ring.

"What was the point of buying that?" Zuko couldn't hold the question and his obvious annoyance of his uncle buying something he deemed as unnecessary.

"Our new place will look nice in case someone has a date." He had gave his nephew a small nudge with his elbow.

They had then walked to the market area as Aiko had inspected the large array of fish, meats, and fruits. "Wow, there are so many things to choose from." She had said as she had looked at the foods.

"I'm not much of a cook, and Lee has never cooked a day in his life." Iroh said as his nephew had glared at him from the corner of his eyes.

The female sighed and looked at them, placing her hands on her hips. "So that means I'll be doing all the cooking, basically?"

"I can cook some foods but just not a lot." Iroh had laughed, "But it would be wise if you did."

She had nodded, "I learned to cook with the Freedom Fighters," Aiko said as she had felt a little nostalgic. "Jet taught me how to cook." She had lowered her lids over her eyes halfway, smiling as she had remembered.

"He did a lot of things, didn't he?" Zuko said, his uncle looking at him confused as Aiko had looked at Zuko. The tone in his voice was odd, but it made Aiko feel a little hostile.

Aiko had nodded to answer his question, "Well… He looked out for us, really. I mean he cooked until we had fought more members that could. It's weird for the leader to be the chef." She said as she had sighed. "Anyway, what do you guys want for dinner tonight?"

"Mm, how about you decide." Iroh smiled happily, "I'd be excited to eat anything."

Zuko merely stared, not giving her an answer. She had raised a brow, wondering why he was behaving so strangely. She dismissed it and then picked up a mango, inspecting it and then looking back at the chicken that was hung up at the windows. "Mm, how about chicken stir-fried with mango and roasted almonds?" She offered.

"That sounds great!" Iroh's excitement could not be suppressed and she had chuckled, realizing they hadn't had a good meal in a long time.

With a nod, she had bought the ingredient they need and other cheap foods that they could cook for other days instead of focusing for today. And of course, she had bought a lot of rice. After paying for the food, they had walked out of the market area and stores.

"You sure you don't need someone else to carry that?" questioned Zuko as he had held the bag of groceries.

"I'm fine." Aiko confidently answered, walking and hoisting the bag up whenever she felt it was slipping in her hold.

He kept his eye on her but he knew better than to argue with her since she seemed too set on it. At least, he wouldn't bother to argue with her until he saw her truly struggling with it.

The bag of groceries was heavy but Aiko acted unfazed by it, that she was strong enough to carry it. It was slipping however, but she had made sure that she made it unnoticeable from Zuko's trained eyes. She had looked inside briefly and then felt herself colliding with someone else. They had grabbed onto her arms to stop her from falling backwards, in which she had let out a sigh of relief because the food could've fell. "I'm so sorry and thank you for—" Her eyes had looked up to the person she had bumped into.

Her expression immediately turned sour.

"Hey." Jet had said with a smirk.

"Jet…" Aiko groaned, "what are you doing?"

He rubbed the back of his neck, "I didn't notice you, really. But you look like you need some help." He had taken the bag of groceries from her grasp, "It's pretty heavy."

Her brows furrowed. "I was just fine."

Zuko quickly walked over, standing in front of Aiko as he had snatched the bag of groceries from Jet, "We don't need your help."

The Freedom Fighter leader had narrowed his eyes at the Prince, "She was struggling holding all that weight. Aiko's a pretty good actress." She had given Jet a frown, "One time she got bit by a poisonous spider-bat, knowing she was in pain but she had played it off so well until she was nearly dead. Good thing I found out the antidote or else she wouldn't even be here."

Her eyes had widened slightly, surprised he remembered that. Iroh had smiled, "She is very stubborn." Iroh had chuckled as the girl had glared at him as he cleared his throat and whistled as he looked away with false innocence.

"What do you want?" Aiko had asked as she had folded her arms. "I'm not joining the Freedom Fighters again."

"I know." He replied, both her and Zuko looking at him in surprise. "But that doesn't mean I don't want my friend back."

His words had surprised her, and even made her heart tightened in her chest cavity. She fought the smile she wanted to make, and continued to keep the irate expression. "We're not friends anymore, Jet." She averted her gaze. "We're on two different paths."

"Honestly," Jet sighed as he scratched the back of his head, "you don't think there's no climbing over this wall? What will it take for you to forgive me?"

His persistence was so like him and she had shifted her gaze back at him, meeting his pleading eyes. "You're not going to leave me alone are you?"

"Nope!" He had then walked around Zuko, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and pulling her in close. His head had pressed against hers, their hair mingling with one another.

A brief stain of red had covered her face as she had set her jaw. "You're so annoying…"

Her body had then jerked to the left, her eyes surprised to see Zuko pulling her over to him. "Why don't you take a hint?" Zuko said to Jet.

"A hint? Why don't you? People make mistakes and I want my best friend back." He had grabbed her right arm, pulling her back towards him.

Her head quickly looked in both directions of the boys, her gaze holding inquisitiveness. Why were they acting like this? "Come on you two, we can't be fighting in the middle of the st—"

"You keep interfering in our business, Lee. I'm pretty sure if you screwed up, you wouldn't want someone in your ear and keep reminding of your mistakes." Jet had tightened his grasp on Aiko's arm, "You made mistakes, haven't you?"

The Prince's brows were knitted together, his amber eyes molting due to his rising anger and his short patience span. "It hasn't come to the point where someone ran away from me because of them. I never said I was perfect." He had tightened his grip as well, Aiko grimacing slightly as they continued to tug her left and right.

Jet had then looked away from the firebender and looked to Aiko, "Look," he said, "I know we're not on the greatest terms." Jet continued on, "But you and I were more than just comrades; we were best friends." Aiko had chewed on her lip, "It's going to take a lot for you to trust me again but I'm going to make it up to you."

She wanted to smile but she had forced herself not to as she had felt herself being pulled. Zuko had pulled her towards him, his force had made Jet's grasp loosen. "I'll think about it." Aiko had told Jet as Zuko had walked off, pulling her with him.

When they were out of plain sight, Smellerbee and Longshot had walked over. Jet had looked to Longshot, who gave him a hard look. "She's not joining the Freedom Fighters, at least not now. But she said she'll think about us being friends again. If I can get her to trust me again, that's when I'll expose that she's with two firebenders."

"But what if they're not? Jet, you saw a man with a hot cup of tea. It doesn't prove he's a firebender. And what if he is, are we supposed to attack them I thought we were starting over here, changing our ways." Smellerbee explained.

The Freedom Fighter leader was insistent, "We are, when I get the evidence I need, I'll report them to the police and let them handle it. Ok? And I want to get Cur- I mean, Aiko away from them. I bet she doesn't even know they are firebenders."

Aiko had looked at Zuko's hand that still had a tight grip on her arm, she had stared at it for quite some time until they had reached the small apartment in the lower ring. When they were out in front of the door, she had spoken. "You can let go of me now."

Zuko didn't turn to look at her but he had let his hand leave her arm as Iroh had unlocked the front door and they had walked up the stairs to their apartment. The place was extremely small but it was better than nothing. They didn't even notice that Iroh wasn't with them.

"I can't believe you're considering being his friend again." Zuko had grumbled as he had place the bag of food on the counter of the small kitchen.

She had folded her arms, "Jet and I have been friends for years Zuko. Even though I hate what has done that doesn't mean I can't forget our friendship, even I wanted to I can't.." Aiko argued. "Jet's a big part of my life. Life as Curly was, and I have to add Curly with Aiko. We're one person."

"Why would you want to be friends with someone like him? He's manipulative and he doesn't mind killing people." The Prince had argued back, trying to make her see reason. "I can understand you can't forget, but you can let go."

She had narrowed her eyes at him, "Wouldn't you want to kill someone who killed your parents, Zuko? Wouldn't you want revenge? I know what he was doing he thought was right even though it was wrong. If it had been the people who killed his parents that he wanted to kill, I wouldn't have stopped him but when it comes to innocent people... I just don't condone it."

"One minute you're on his side and then the next you're against him." He pointed at her, "Make up your mind."

Aiko had scoffed, "That's the whole problem Zuko. I don't know whose side I'm on; I don't know what to feel! Everything is so damn frustrating and you're trying to make me choose!"

He didn't say anything for a few minutes, he had then sighed as he had massaged the bridge of his nose. "Do what you want. I don't care." He had walked away from her and went into his room, slamming the door closed.

She had looked at the direction of his room, rubbing her temples as she had let out a sigh. "Why is everything so complicated?" She asked herself, "…Dammit Jet."

Iroh had then walked into the apartment and placed the vase on a table, and then arranged the flowers to spruce them up. He had then noticed the odd tension in the room, "I thought you two would solve things but I guess not."

"Zuko is unreasonable." She had placed her hands on her hips before walking to the kitchen and taking out the ingredients for tonight's dinner. "He always seems to be pissed off at me."

The older man had smiled, deciding to let them two work the problem themselves. "The normal troubles of youth. You'll get past this." Iroh had said as he had walked into the kitchen to prepare a pot of tea.

Once he finished setting up the tea, he had sat at the low table and waited. Meanwhile Aiko was using a rather sharp knife to cut the mango in three parts in propionate lengths. "I can never do anything right as far as he is concerned." She had mumbled as she had then cut them in halves flesh down to the skin, and used a spoon to scoop them out.

"He really hates being the city, so he's not in a good mood." Iroh had tried to reason, trying to ease her anger towards his nephew. "I know it's no excuse but.."

She had looked up at Iroh as she had cut the mango into strips under five centimeters in length, "He's always in a bad mood."

Iroh had chuckled, "It may seem that way." He had then looked in the direction of the room that was occupied by Zuko.

**/**

"Dinner was amazing last night." Iroh had complimented as they were walking early in the morning towards the teashop that Iroh had gotten them jobs in.

Aiko had smiled as she had scratched her cheek in a mousy fashion, "Thanks. It's been a while since I cooked so I didn't think it would turn out great."

"It was really good. I had three bowls!" A hearty laugh had left Iroh, which made her smile.

Zuko was quiet however, keeping a straight face as they had walked down the street. The street was still busy despite how early it was. Aiko had occasionally glanced at him, frowning as he had seemed to be ignoring her all over again.

When they had reached the small teashop, Iroh had opened the doors for the teens so that they could walk in first before following behind them. They were instantly greeted by the owner, who was sporting a smile. "Let's get down to business!" The man had said as he had walked away from them for a few minutes.

"He seems rather nice." Aiko commented as she had placed her hand on her hip.

The former general nodded, "He is."

When the teashop owner had returned he had handed them what appeared to be aprons and allowed them what appeared to be aprons. Aiko, Zuko, and Iroh had all placed them on. "Well, you certainly look like official tea serves. How do you feel?"

Aiko had fought from her true feelings from her expression. "Uhm… okay, I guess…?"

"Ridiculous." Zuko said bluntly.

Iroh, meanwhile, had difficulty trying to tie the string behind his back. Aiko had walked over in attempts to help him but appeared that the apron was large enough for him. "Uh, does this possibly come in a larger size?" Iroh asked the teashop owner.

"I have extra string in the back. Have some tea while you wait." He said as he poured three cups of tea, carefully handing them each one before heading back of the shop.

Iroh took a sip of his cup, but quickly pulled it away as he his contorted face showed his evident disapproval or more like disgust of the tea. "Ugh! This nothing more than hot leaf juice!"

"Uncle, that's what all tea is." Zuko said in reply, taking a sip but immediately frowning upon taste.

"How can a member of my own family say something so horrible? We'll have to make some major changes around here." He said as he had walked over towards the tea pot.

Aiko was hesitant taking a sip after Iroh's apparent disgust. She had winged it, taking a sip but stuck her tongue out. "Eugh! This is bad." She had forced herself to drink it all and kept her tongue out as he had placed the cup back on the counter.

"If it was so bad then why did you drink it all?" Zuko asked her, surprising her that he was speaking to her.

She had blinked twice, "Because I wanted to be polite." She answered honestly.

The teashop owner had then come back with the extra string, handing it to Iroh, who had smiled and fixed his robe. "Oh, Mushi had told me that you can cook, Aiko is it?"

The girl had nodded her head, surprised. "Yes."

"I was wondering if you could make pastries. We have a stove and an oven, and I'm sure people would love something sweet to eat with their tea." He had explained to her as she had looked away in thought.

She had hummed softly, "Well… I know a few treats." She answered honestly, "I haven't made any in a while but I can try." She smiled.

"Lovely!" The man had said, "Oh," he then cleared his throw, "my name is Pao by the way. Sorry for not introducing myself correctly."

Aiko had smiled as she had bowed politely and Zuko did as well, "I hope we'll help bring in lots of business." She had said as she had looked to Zuko, who still seemed to be irritated.

"Yeah…" He said shortly afterwards, making her smile.

The man let out a nervous laugh, "Not the talkative one, huh?"

The amber-eyed boy had looked at him, "No."

"Right." Pao had cleared his throat again and then looked over towards Iroh, "Maybe a fresh pot? Did you finish the one I made?"

"O-Oh yes, it was quite lovely but I wanted to spice things up a bit." Iroh had said as Aiko tried to hold in her laugh.

* * *

**A/N: **


End file.
